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Swim Good (Pokeshipping)

Hello there!
I'm new to all this, but I thought it was about time to post a fanfic I've been thinking of writing for a while now! So hopefully you'll enjoy it! I apologise now if it isn't up to standard.

The first chapter is PG (it may change further into story, don't know where exactly it's going yet)
*Don't own Pokemon, but I do own this story*

Chapter 1 - On the Gym Front (part 1):

‘I choose you!’ a young trainer called as he threw a red and white sphere into the air. The young trainer, Sam, was not much older than eleven. He stood in the trainer’s box outside the battle arena, which was an enormous pool. He wore a baggy red t-shirt and dark blue board shorts that fell past his knees. His medium, dark brown hair was wet with sweat, but not because he was exhausted from battle, it was because he was nervous. Even though it was his second gym battle, this particular Gym Leader was showing no mercy, he now had one Pokémon left, while she had two.

From within, an orange canine with black strips emerged, and now stood fiercely; waiting for the opponent to make their move. The Pokéball flew back to the young boy, who caught it in his trembling hands. His brown eyes shifted back to the battle field. Staryu; the opponent’s second Pokémon, stood proudly on the platform parallel to his Growlithe, its red gem shining brilliantly from the light reflecting from the glass panelled roof.

‘The challenger has like one Pokémon remaining, let the battling commence!’ a blonde-haired girl announced from the side of pool, raising both her arms simultaneously.

‘Okay Staryu, Rapid Spin!’

With no hesitation, the brown star-shaped Pokémon, leapt into the air and started to spin at an incredible speed towards the dog Pokémon.

‘Move out the way Growlithe!’

‘Grow!’ Growlithe called as it dodged to the left with ease.

‘Alright Growlit-’

‘Hyah!’

A high pitched yelp sounded in the arena, as the Staryu collided with Growlithe from behind.

‘Growlithe! Are you okay?’ he beckoned to his Pokémon. The Growlithe nodded and jumped to its feet, but whimpered as it put weight on its front right foot.

‘But, how did Staryu do that so quickly?’ Sam called out, his brows furrowing.

‘I’ve had my Staryu for a very long time, not to mention we’ve practiced Rapid Spin to many times to know that Pokémon can dodge it when they can see it coming. But they don’t expect it to come hurtling back from behind twice as fast!’

‘Wow.’ the boy said in awe, but was interrupted by the terrifying thought the match could be over at any second. His Growlithe’s foot was injured; Agility and Quick Attack would now be useless.
‘Damn, we worked so hard on developing those attacks, and fire moves are hopeless against water. I’m such an idiot! I shouldn’t be a trainer; I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to do!’

He peered at his opponent, a slender girl with one hand perched on her hip, the other dangling at her side. She wore a sleeveless lemon yellow vest, with a sky blue collar and button, underneath was a blood red top that was tucked into short shorts, which were also lemon yellow, and orange sneakers that complemented her orange hair, tied out to the side in a pony tail. Her name was Misty, and she was the leader of the Cerulean City Gym.

Her Staryu had easily defeated his Squirtle, and now Growlithe was in trouble.

‘Think positive, Sam! I can do this.’

He looked towards his Growlithe who was also staring at him with its dark brown eyes.

‘No, we can.’

They both nodded at it each other, and now looked towards their opponent both in their battle stance.

‘Go Growly!’

‘Grow, Growwwwwww!’ Growlithe vibrantly called as it quickly hobbled across the platforms in the water arena.

‘There must be something I can do.’ he said to himself.

In front of him, Misty had already ordered Staryu into a Rapid Spin. Once again Staryu rocketed towards Growlithe at an amazing speed.

‘Dodge Growlithe! And turn around quickly! Don’t take your eyes off Staryu!’

Growlithe dodged successfully and turned around, its eyes following Staryu.

Sam watched in horror, as his quick and tactical move against Staryu backfired. Growlithe’s Flamethrower didn’t stand a chance against Staryu’s powerful Bubblebeam, and it was only a matter of seconds before it would reach Growlithe.

‘She’s just too quick. There must be something I can do! There must be some-…that’s it!’

‘Growlithe jump into the water and stay hidden!’ Sam yelled while pointing frantically towards the water.

‘Grow!’

And with a quick bounce and a small splash, Growlithe was gone, just as Staryu’s Bubblebeam collided with the platform Growlithe had just been standing on; causing it to crumble and smash into the water.

Vicious spray from the attack reached both sides of the arena. Sam shielded his eyes with his forearm, the blonde-haired girl Daisy, who also happened to be Misty eldest sister, cowered and shrieked as she made herself into a ball. But Misty stood there tall, her eyes calculating and intense.

‘Misty, like what the hell!’ Daisy screamed as she jumped up defensively.

Sam unshielded his eyes and looked across the arena, expecting some sort of retort from the red haired Gym Leader. However, Misty just rolled her eyes, than directed them towards Sam.

‘That was a smart move kid; good to see that some trainers have tricks up their sleeves!’

Sam nervously chuckled.

‘Ha ha, well, um, thanks.’ he replied sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head.

‘I didn’t know your Growlithe knew how to swim.’ she continued, her eyes searching around the arena. Staryu jumped back down to a platform on the water in front of Misty, panting slightly, but still rearing to fight.

‘I’ve taught it a bit.’ Sam replied.

‘You’ve done well,’ Misty beamed. Out of the corner of her she spotted Growlithe come up for a breath of air then slip back under the surface.

‘Growlithe, get out of the water now!’ Sam bellowed, nearing the edge of the water. But there was no luck.

‘While your Growlithe’s ability to swim is impressive, its lack of experience of battling underwater is a major disadvantage,’ Misty stated nonchalantly, ‘not only is Staryu a stronger swimmer, but it can also hear me while underwater. You’ve given me a great battle, but now it’s time to end this.’ Misty smirked.

Sam watched, scared, as a whirlpool formed in the depths of arena then violently erupted into a catastrophic underwater cyclone. He could feel sweat continuously roll down the middle of his back, his palms felt clammy and numb, and even though he tried to step back out of shock, he found that his legs would not move. Whether he wanted to or not, it looked like he had to watch his Pokémon suffer the consequences of Misty, and her powerful Staryu.

In the midst of the pool, Sam could see Staryu moving in a circular motion at an incredibly pace, and swirling with it, was an orange blur; Growlithe, spluttering and yelping.

‘Oh no.’ Sam whimpered.

Misty remained calm as she watched on.

Sam continued to stare at his helpless Growlithe spin uncontrollably around the middle of the whirlpool then circle its way towards the surface, then shoot unmercifully back down towards the bottom, the process repeating over and over again.

‘We can’t lose, we’ve gotten this far.’

‘Maybe if I...’

‘Growlithe aim a Flamethrower at the wall of the pool when I tell you too.’

Growlithe nodded and braced itself for another gruelling lap in the whirlpool.

Misty watched, intrigued. ‘What is he up to?’

‘Okay Growlithe get ready!’

Growlithe’s eyes narrowed and focussed on the wall.

‘Now! Flamethrower!’

Misty watched as Growlithe’s Flamethrower ricocheted with the side of the pool wall. At first nothing happened, but as the intensity of attack increased, the force pushed Growlithe out of the whirlpool!

‘Your fault? You trained your Pokémon great, especially for someone new to Pokémon training. The reason you lost is because your Pokémon are new to it too; they need more experience, like you. Your Growlithe was a standout, not many Pokémon can escape Staryu’s Rapid Spin!’ Misty smiled at Sam and Growlithe, than reached into her back pocket.

‘And that is why you deserve this.’ Bringing her arm and enclosed fist into view, and opening to reveal a beautiful drop-shaped badge.

Sam’s jaw dropped. ‘The Cascade Badge!’

Misty nodded.

‘But I lost! I only defeated one of your Pokémon! I don’t understand.’

‘I do things I little differently around here. While most gyms merit badges to those who defeat all their Pokémon, I award mine on the quality of battle. Your Pokémon fought brilliantly today, and you used interesting and smart tactics not only offensively but defensively! Trainers today think battles rely on offensive attacks alone, but sometimes defence is the key.’

‘Oh’ Sam replied quietly.

‘There’s also another reason I am giving you this badge today. When you’re battling, it’s not your Pokémon out there fighting, it’s you as well. They rely on you to navigate them in order to help them succeed! You wouldn’t believe the amount of trainers that waltz in here demanding a battle, all the while treating their Pokémon like slaves. You and your Weedle, Squirtle and Growlithe demonstrated a bond and a trust that earned my respect and a badge. You should be proud to call yourself a trainer, and with the skills and Pokémon you have, I can guarantee a bright future.’

Misty held her arm out, her palm facing upwards revealing the badge.

Sam stared at it in a trance, and then gently picked it out of her hands. He held it between his index finger and his thumb, than started laughing.

Hello again!
Hope everyone who has read my fic so far is enjoying it. Sorry if it's a little slow and boring, but it's getting there (I'm enjoying setting the scene!).
Anywho, things should start to pick up now I hope, so please feel free to comment! Any tips and/or criticism are welcome!

Also sorry it took so long to post another chapter!

epicjirachifan: Big thank you! Hope you like this chapter!

*forgot to mention; italics are thoughts*

Chapter 2 - On the Gym Front (part 2):

Misty and Sam were now standing outside the Cerulean City Gym. Dark puffy clouds flocked above the giant Dewgong; which stood atop the yellow and pink dome. In the distance a deep rumbling could be heard, and if you looked to the north, flocks of Pidgey and Spearow were fleeing the grassy green fields and shrubbery, and were heading towards the cosy and safe crevices in the trees.

‘The next gym you want to go to is in Vermillion City. It’s a couple of days walk. But I think you should stay at the Pokémon Centre tonight, it looks like a storm is heading this way.’

‘Yeah, besides I was going to head there anyway to heal my Pokémon.’ Sam smiled.

‘Good idea. The Nurse Joy there is a good friend of mine. She’ll set you up in a nice room, and will provide you with a great meal.’

‘Really? I thought Nurse Joys only took care of Pokémon?’

‘Oh no, they are quite hospitable! Not only do they take care and heal sick and injured Pokémon, but they take in travelling trainers. When I travelled throughout Kanto, Johto and even the Hoenn several years ago with my friends, every Nurse Joy we ran into always helped us out.’

‘You’ve been to the Johto and Hoenn region? Awesome! I bet you’ve seen some really cool Pokémon!’

‘Sure did. They also have gym leaders as well, and like Kanto their own Pokémon league!’

‘Awww wow. I’ll have to go there as soon as I’m finished in this region. It might take a while, the Kanto Pokémon league starts next week, so I’ll have to wait till next time.’

‘Don’t forget, the Kanto gyms are shut while the league is on, so if you want to challenge Lt. Surge you might need to get up early tomorrow. I know it’s open this weekend for last minute battles. But I’d still stay at the Pokémon centre tonight.’ Misty replied looking towards the sky, which now exhibited lightning.

‘Sure thing Misty. Thank you for the battle and the badge. Next time we meet I’ll be stronger, and I’d like a rematch, if you’re interested?’

‘You’ve got it. By the way, if you come across a man and a woman with a talking Meowth, don’t trust a word they say’

‘Why not?’

‘They belong to a group called Team Rocket, those three may seem harmless, but they can still cause trouble.’

‘I thought Team Rocket vanished years ago? Besides, I thought groups like Team Magma, Aqua, Plasma and Galactic have caused more trouble than Team Rocket ever did.’

‘When I was kid, they did all sorts of evil throughout the region. They shouldn’t be treated lightly.’ Misty rebuffed.

‘But they haven’t been around for years, why should I be worried?’ Sam asked, frowning suspiciously.

‘Trust me okay,’ Misty said as her eyes darted nervously to the side, ‘stay away from all of those groups. Promise me Sam.’ Misty said sternly, her eyes burning into his.

‘I promise.’ Sam assured.

‘Good,’ Misty replied looking back towards him, ‘now you better get along, the storm could hit any minute now.’

Sam stared at her, wanting to ask questions he wasn’t sure he wanted the answers to, but instead he nodded his head and held out his hand. ‘Thanks again Misty. Good bye.’

‘Thank you too Sam,’ Misty answered, shaking Sam’s hand. ‘Good luck.’

And with that Sam turned around and walked away.

Misty watched him walk on till he was out of sight, then turned around herself and went inside the gym. ‘Good luck kid, take care.’

‘Daisy? Lily? Violet? You guys still here?’ Misty called.

‘In here Misty!’

Misty walked through reception to the pool arena, where her battle with Sam had just taken place. Inside, her sister Daisy and Violet were standing at the end of the pool pulling the pool covers over the length of the pool.

‘That like took you long enough! While you were outside saying goodbye to that kid, we’ve been cleaning up after your battle! How did you make so much mess?’ Violet puffed while heaving the cover towards her end of the pool. Violet was Misty’s second-oldest sister. She had Persian-blue hair held together by a bobby pin decorated with red beads. She was still wearing her dark green one-piece swimsuit, which appeared to be still wet.

‘I can’t control what happens in a Pokémon match! I would’ve done it myself, like most things around here!’ Misty bellowed back.

‘C’mon guys give it a rest!’ Daisy called out, equally puffed, ‘besides Violet, you and Lily are going away this weekend, while Misty and I stay here and supervise the renovations!’

‘Erh, like whatever.’ Violet mumbled.

‘Here I’ll get the switch. Say ‘when’ when you want me to turn off the motor.’ Misty said, running towards the power box.

‘When!’ Daisy and Violet proclaimed in unison.

Misty flicked the switch as Daisy and Violet both unclipped the ropes from the pool cover and proceeded wrapping the ropes around the hook on the wall.

‘Like of course not! And I’m not sure I want to go out in this weather, it wasn’t even forecasted,’ Violet cried. ‘But I still want to get away from this place! I’m getting tired of all this hard work and the screaming kids.’

‘It was your idea to open a public pool Violet. Besides you and Lily are doing a good job teaching kids and Pokémon how to swim. Your underwater shows are a hit too.’ Misty grinned.

‘Yeah but like I’d rather have a bad day on holidays than a good day at work!’

‘Oh boy.’ Misty said, while her and Daisy sweat-dropped.

‘Like let’s get packing Violet! We’re leaving early in the morning!’ Violet called from the other room.

‘I better head up to, I’m starving. If you need anything give me a call. I’ve got keys for the back door, so you don’t have to buzz me in.’ Daisy said.

‘Sure thing Daisy, but I should be fine. I’ve been living up here by myself for years now. Besides, I think someone has to referee those two.’ Misty laughed.

‘Too right,’ Daisy grumbled, ‘well, goodnight, see ya tomorrow.’

‘Night Daisy, just lock the backdoor on your way out, I’ll do the rest later.’

Daisy nodded and followed Violet through the door in the corner.

Misty sighed. ‘Guess I better get started.’

Since Misty returned to the Cerulean City Gym, to become its leader multiple years ago, life had gotten busier.
While Misty enjoyed the privilege of the being one of few who had earned this prestigious title; the responsibility was enormous.
First there was the Pokémon side of it. The Gym was home to many water Pokémon; Horseas, Krabbys, Gyarados, Dewgong, Seels, Shellders, Corsola, Magikarps, Goldeens, Seaking, Poliwags, Politoed, Luvdiscs, Staryu, Starmie, Kingler, Seadra, Kingdra and not to mention Psyduck and Azurill. They had to be fed twice a day, as well as looked over by Nurse Joy at least once a month. However, if Misty battled with any of those Pokémon, they would go to Nurse Joy later that afternoon via Pokéball teleportation.
The aquariums in which they lived were cleaned properly once a month (this normally took place on weekends), and Misty (with the reluctant help of Daisy, Violet and Lily) liked to take the Pokémon to a nearby beach or lake to get exercise.

Next was ‘behind the scenes’, as Misty liked to call it. There was administration; documenting such things as gym battles, and running the Cerulean City Gym website, an important tool for trainers to check rules and regulations before challenging Misty, and for the general public to check times for underwater shows and swimming lessons.

Running a gym not only took time, but money. There was funding from the league, but in order to improve the gym and order more supplies, Misty and her sisters had to make money on their own. They had decided to make the main pool arena accessible to the public from 6am to 8am in the morning and 6pm to 8pm at night, while gym battles took place from 8.30am-12.00pm and 12.30pm-5.30pm. The pool was also used for underwater shows (later in the evening) and demonstrations, but with swimming lessons for both Pokémon and people, the place begun to make more money, as well as giving Violet and Lily something to do.
The aquariums below ground level also became a home for water Pokémon that had been abandoned, injured in natural disasters or by groups like Team Rocket, and were fostered until they received new trainers or left while their trainers went on holiday; a job all sisters enjoyed.

Soon enough the gym had enough money to add an attaching flat for Daisy, Violet and Lily to live in and another pool at the back; which became the full-time swim school as well as the main pool for underwater shows. However after this expenditure, there wasn’t enough money for the rest of the gym; until now.

After years of saving and paying debts the gym now had enough money to renovate the original area; including the pool arena, reception, aquariums underneath and the rooms above.
The renovation included demolishing the old pool arena to build a bigger one, fit for more action and even underwater battling. The gigantic stands would be replaced with a smaller one as well as benches; one at either end of the field and one for the referee. Misty thought it would be a good idea for more space. With advice and tips from Dorian; an underwater battling and water Pokémon specialist like her, Misty became more confident in the renovations, and herself.

The aquariums were to be expanded, fitted with new glass and a brand new filter and cleaning system, as well as new plants, rocks and ornaments.

The reception and rooms above the pool arena where Misty lived were getting an upgrade, as well as new appliances, and Misty couldn’t be happier. The place she grew up, left, then came back years ago was now undergoing a desperately needed renovation, and once it was finished, the business and home that was Cerulean City Gym would be back better than ever.

But Misty had reservations. While the gym was special to her, it wasn’t her dream. Her dream was to become the World’s Greatest Water Pokémon Trainer, and while being a full time gym leader; that couldn’t be achieved. She still had so much to see and do, being a gym leader had given her experience and knowledge, but that wasn’t all that was needed.

She dreamed of travelling again throughout all the regions, seeing and catching new Pokémon, making new friends, and spending time with old ones…like Brock, Pikachu and Ash. Especially Ash.

During his travels, Ash had made many new friends like May, Max and Dawn, Iris and Cilan, but now he was travelling with just Pikachu and the rest of his Pokémon team, doing God knows what.

Brock had returned home to Pewter City and begun studying to become a Pokémon doctor, but he was still the official Pewter City Gym Leader (and often shared the role with his father and eldest brother). She talked to Brock a lot, and it became a habit to catch up with him once a month; either in Pewter or Cerulean City. She often got calls from Delia Ketchum and Professor Oak and Tracey called in at least twice a week, and he was great company up until three months ago (he begun travelling around doing research), but she still received calls from him when he reached a Pokémon Centre.

As for Ash; she hadn’t seen him in person since Dr Yung invited them to his mansion, but she did speak to him via videophone and wrote letters and emails, but it wasn’t enough. He was busy training, battling and challenging. The last time she had spoken to him was over two months ago, and that was by email.

But for the time being her top priority was to do the rest of her chores, have dinner, shower, than go to bed.

First job was to lock the gym. The entire gym was hooked up with a decent security system that locked everything from doors to windows, all Misty had to do was type in the password and everything could be locked or unlocked in a matter of seconds. All that had to be done now was to feed the Pokémon dinner, send Pokémon from today’s battles to the Pokémon Centre, log and file forms for today’s battles, do any cleaning up and lights off.

An hour and a half later, Misty was now sitting up stairs eating pumpkin soup. Today was a long and busy day, and luckily the last day the gym would be accepting trainers to battle for a Cascade badge. As Misty finished off her soup and begun to wash up, she begun to close her eyes and think of all the good times she had years ago travelling with Ash, Pikachu and Brock. All the places she seen, people she’d met, but none more important than Ash and Brock.

A tear rolled down her eye as she recalled the last time the three of them had been together, just them:

‘Misty? It’s Tracey! Sorry to interrupt you, but it’s pouring out here! Could you let us in?’

‘Tracey, um, uh, sure I’ll buzz you in.’ Misty replied awkwardly.

‘Thanks!’ Tracey called out, before she typed in the code to allow Tracey and-
‘Wait, us? Who else is with Tracey?’

Misty rushed down stairs, eager to help Tracey and curious to find out whom was accompanying him.

Misty punched in the password to open the door leading to reception. Opening the door, Misty was surprised to see a very muddy, tired and wet Tracey. His bright red headband was now a dirty maroon. His jet black hair was waterlogged and stuck to his forehead. Misty couldn’t see his normal attire; a light green t-shirt and red shorts, as they were covered by a dark blue parka that reached his knees. His light purple sneakers were completely soaked and entirely covered with mud.

‘Oh Tracey, you look terrible.’ Misty gasped.

‘Thanks,’ Tracey sighed, ‘do you mind if we stay here for half an hour or so, just to get our stuff organised? We don’t want to bother you or anything?’

‘Nonsense Trace! You can stay the night, even the weekend.’

‘Really? You sure? Thanks! But we will only probably need tonight; we need to get our findings, and my sketches, to Professor Oak right away!’

‘Yeah sure. Wait whose we?’

‘Tracey, a little help here.’ a voice groaned.

Misty and Tracey turned around to see a dark figure emerge through the doorway.’

‘Gary?’

‘Hi there Red!’

Tracey rushed past Misty to help Gary drag a big black bag inside; it also was clad with mud and was dripping wet.

Gary was just as dirty and wet as Tracey, but didn’t look as exhausted. If anything, he looked like he was enjoying himself immensely. He had a big grin plastered on his face and his dark eyes were dancing around the reception, no doubt inspecting every single detail. Gary was also wearing a parka, but his was shorter in length and coloured black. He also wore black pants and his familiar yellow boots, now clad with mud.

The one thing that caught Misty’s eye was the yellow and green pendant, that, despite of how dirty and black Gary looked; sparkled wonderfully.

‘Wait a second; I’ll get some old sheets and towels.’ Misty said.

Minutes later, all the bags accompanying Tracey and Gary were hanging in the laundry, the contents inside; research papers and notes, sketch pads, cameras, compasses, stopwatches, logbooks and more were lying in front of the heater upstairs on the old sheets. Also in front of the heaters sat Gary and Tracey; rubbing their hands together trying to regain some warmth.

Misty on the other hand was running about the upstairs living area; finding towels, cooking soup and boiling water for hot tea.

‘Do you guys have spare clothes?’ Misty called out.

‘Yeah, right here.’ Tracey replied, motioning towards two plastic packages amongst the heap on the floor.

‘That’s great. Well I’ve got towels; you guys better go for a shower now, you’re both still shivering. By the time you get out, the soup and tea will be on the table. There’s a shower upstairs and also one downstairs behind reception.’

‘That sounds great,’ Gary answered, ‘I’ll take the one downstairs.’

‘Oh okay, I’ll just show you where it-’

‘That’s okay, I’ll find it,’ Gary rebuffed, grabbing one of the packages on the floor. ‘Thanks though Red.’

‘Uh, no problem.’ Misty uttered handing him one of the white towels.

Misty watched Gary slip down the stairs swiftly, and disappear into the shadows.

‘Okay?’

‘Don’t worry; it’s been a long day. We needed to get back earlier than expected; Professor Oak was keen to see our findings, and talk to us about an upcoming project. Anyway we got up early this morning to board a boat to Vermillion City, but it was delayed for seven hours due to the terrible weather. When we finally got on the boat, the waves were so choppy I thought we were going to tip over! When we arrived in Vermillion, three hours later, clouds started to roll in, and twenty minutes into our walk home, it started to pour.’

‘Thanks Misty. And thanks for letting us stay here tonight.’ Tracey smiled placing his hand on her shoulder.

‘No problem.’ Misty reciprocated. ‘Good to have you back Tracey.’

‘Good to be back.’

Once again Misty found herself alone. She was in the kitchen pouring the pumpkin soup in two ceramic soup bowls. The water had boiled and was now sitting in a teapot in the middle of the kitchen table, with the sugar jar, the milk bottle and three green mugs. Misty placed two silver soup spoons on the table and put the bowls next to them.

‘Might start some of the washing up.’

‘Don’t even think about it Red.’ a voice murmured.

‘Gary?’ Misty stammered. ‘You scared me.’ she than laughed off.

‘Sorry, but please, Tracey and I can take care of it, it’s the least we can do for your help tonight.’

‘Don’t even worry about it, you’re guests! Sit down and have you dinner. And I can take your clothes and wash them if you’d like?’

‘Nah don’t worry about it. This time tomorrow we’ll be back at my Gramp’s lab, there’s no need to go to all that trouble.’ Gary interjected.

Misty nodded and motioned for Gary to sit down, while sitting at the head of the table herself.

‘Guess I should wait for Tracey.’

‘Wait no more! Imma’ coming!’ a cheery voice announced, ‘that shower was exactly what I needed! And now a nice warm meal! Thanks a lot Misty.’

‘Not a problem, anything to help out a couple of friends.’

Misty bit her lip; was she really friends with Gary? She had never really spoken to him before, only when Ash was around.

‘I suppose we’re mutual friends.’

Misty sipped her tea as she watched a very hungry Tracey and Gary scoff down their soup and slurp down their tea.

‘Wow, they’re just as bad as Ash when it comes to table manners,’ Misty thought as she sweat-dropped. ‘I guess they were really hungry.’ Misty smirked.

‘So where have you guys been for the last three months?’ Misty inquired, trying to engage in conversation.

Gary set aside his empty soup bowl and grabbed his mug. ‘We’ve been on a research expedition,’ Gary replied as he took a sip of tea, ‘we’ve gone to the Johto region, collecting data on Pokémon evolution and strength.’

‘We’ve been looking at how the different environments in all the different regions affect how long a Pokémon takes to evolve, and how powerful they turn out to be,’ Tracey piped in, his mouth slightly full, ‘we also spoke to trainers as well to get their perspective, and compared how strong wild and trained Pokémon were to each other, and how long it took them to evolve.’

‘Wow,’ Misty said in awe. ‘That must have been fun travelling throughout Johto and getting to work with Pokémon and trainers so closely.’

‘But we did get a lot of work done,’ Tracey pointed out. ‘We even started to study Pokémon throughout the Kanto region as well. But that was when Professor Oak called; wanting us to come back, so we didn’t get time to check out the other regions.’

‘You mentioned he wanted you to come back so that he could talk about a new project? Did he say what it was?’ Misty questioned.

‘Something to do with Orange Archipelago…’ Tracey replied, pushing his soup bowl towards the middle of the table.

‘Apparently, there has been an unusual migration pattern in the area,’ Gary commented. ‘All sorts of water and flying type Pokémon have been migrating there for several weeks now. This isn’t normal, because they are coming from all sorts of regions.’

‘You’re right, those Pokémon shouldn’t be migrating there, it’s autumn there at the moment; it’s not exactly cold over there, but there are other places they should be migrating to that should be getting warmer this time of the year; and those places should be closer to their homes.’ Misty mentioned.

Gary remained silent, deep in thought. Misty supposed he was already trying to figure out the mystery.

‘I suppose it was a no brainer for Gramps to assign us to this project, being as eager as we are to find out new things about Pokémon.’ he finally said, glancing over to Tracey happily.
Tracey nodded, than started to stand up.

‘Well I guess we better get started on the washing up,’ Tracey laughed, ‘isn’t gonna clean itself.’

‘Let me help y-‘

‘Sit down Red.’ Gary interrupted, nudging her back into her sit.

‘Hey!’ Misty protested. ‘and stop calling me Red!’

‘Hush Red,’ Gary scolded playfully, ‘how ‘bout you tell us about the gym and how everything is going here?’

‘So what’s gonna happen to those who want to challenge the gym?’ Tracey inquired.

‘Well the Kanto league starts next week, and will last nearly a month, so it’ll be closed during that time anyway. But I’m pretty sure we’re going to use the other pool, and go back to old set up; open the pool to the public from 6am to 8am in the morning, and 6pm to 8pm at night, gym battles will take place from 8.30am-12.00pm and 12.30pm-5.30pm. Underwater shows will be later in the evening.’

‘Sounds like the next few months are going to be busy for you.’ Gary stated.

‘Yeah.’ Misty sighed, folding her forearms on the table and placing her head on it.

‘But still, you’ve done a brilliant job with the place Misty, and it’s gonna look better after these renovations,’ Gary replied while pulling the plug out of sink and jumping up to sit on the kitchen counter, ‘but there’s one thing I’m confused about. All around the region, I’ve heard rumours of the Cerulean City Gym Leader being the best in all of Kanto; I even checked the League website and surprise surprise! Misty; the Cerulean City Gym Leader, ranked number one! And is also placed in the top ten in all five regions! Quite impressive! What I don’t get is; if you’re unbeatable, why do so many trainers own a Cascade Badge?’

‘I do things a little differently around here,’ Misty said for the second time today, ‘I award badges on the skilful tactics trainers use in battle. If I get a decent battle and I still win, I’ll give the trainer the badge. I also like to see trainers and their Pokémon work together as one; if they trust and care for each other; I think they deserve a badge. There are trainers out there that abuse their Pokémon and still win battles; and I don’t think they even deserve the chance to look at a badge.’

Gary sat there speechless, his jaw gaping open. Tracey looked on, worried to say a word; Misty was a hot head, and even though Gary was calmer and more in control of his emotions these days, he still had a knack for witty comebacks, teasing and pushing people’s buttons, and if Misty and Gary were about to argue the way Ash and Misty did while he travelled with them, he’d leave, and venture through the storm all night just to get away from it.

Misty looked up, and started to frown. ‘Has he got a problem with that?’

Gary closed his eyes and smiled to himself.

‘Say Misty, would you like to come to the Orange Archipelago with us?’

First off, sorry for taking so long to post this chapter; I've had a really busy week! I hoped to write at least one chapter a day, but it isn't working to well haha.

Also, I'd apprecite any thoughts, tips or criticism anyone would like to share! I don't know if it's any good or not!

Lastly, I was thinking of making a banner for my fic by photoshopping some internet pics of various things and doing fancy things to it...is it allowed? And how do I get it on here?!

Also thank you sandy ketchum!

Ok! here's the next chapter!

Chapter 4 – Visitors in the Night (part 2):

‘Huh?!’ Misty exclaimed.

‘You heard me,’ Gary replied, ‘you should come with us.’

‘But why?’

‘Firstly, because you’re a powerful and great trainer, and you specify in water type Pokémon; and that could come in handy, secondly because you’d get experience in researching; that could come in handy for you, and thirdly, Tracey said you, and Ash, were good company while you guys travelled together; I’d say all three of us would be a good team and get along really well.’

‘And don’t forget Misty,’ Tracey added, ‘the gym will be closed for a month, you’d have the time.’

‘I do appreciate the offer but don’t forget the renovations; I need to be here to supervise. I just can’t leave Daisy here by herself, and after the first month, battles will resume. Do you guys know how long it’s going to take?’ Misty asked as she stood up.

‘I’m an official Gym Leader; I just can’t drop everything and leave, it’s my responsibility to stay here and take care of the gym.’ Misty retaliated.

‘Yeah, but you also deserve to have a break and have a good time.’ Tracey pointed out.

‘I am having a good time here! It is my dream!’

‘I thought your dream was to become the World’s Greatest Water Pokémon Trainer?’ Tracey objected.

‘How are you going to achieve that while being a Gym Leader, it has helped you immensely, but you can only get so far,’ Gary stated bluntly, folding his arms, ‘going on this research project with us would enrich your knowledge, and you’d be a step closer to your real dream.’

Misty huffed, and turned away.

Tracey walked towards her, but stopped short, ‘you said Daisy would be by herself. Where are Violet and Daisy going? And for how long?’

‘They’re going on an acting seminar in Hoenn, but they’ll only be gone a week.’

‘What a coincidence,’ Tracey declared, ‘Gary and I don’t plan to leave for the Orange Archipelago for at least a week; we gotta retype up notes, file them, unpack than re-pack, probably have a meeting with Professor Oak and any other researchers at the lab and book tickets for a ferry to the Orange Archipelago. By then your sisters should be making their way back or should be back, and you would have supervised a week’s worth of renovations. What do you say?’

‘I can’t. I-‘

‘Just leave it Tracey,’ Gary said calmly, ‘she isn’t interested.’

Misty turned around and glanced between Tracey’s worried and disappointed face, and Gary’s surprisingly emotionless one.

‘It has been a busy day, I’m going to bed. Is there a spare bed?’

‘Erh, yeah, I have three spare bedrooms next to each other to the right, they're made.’ Misty stammered, a bit shocked by Gary’s reply.

‘Thanks again, Misty. Catch ya’s tomorrow.’ Gary replied as he started to walk to his room. Misty slumped on a kitchen chair as Gary closed his bedroom door.

‘Don’t be sorry,’ he said as he patted her shoulder, ‘but please reconsider, we were only thinking of you.’

And once again Misty was alone.

Later that night, Misty was tossing and turning, trying to sleep. She could barely sleep, because of two reasons; firstly the storm outside was still raging; lightning bolts flashed and thunder howled what seemed like every second, and secondly because of what was said earlier that night.

Her mind had somehow manipulated it into a cruel nightmare, replaying it over and over again; pitting her as weak and tiny. She watched as Gary and Tracey laughed and mocked her every word. And it got worse. Ash and Brock appeared, and were more ruthless.

‘We couldn’t wait till you left! You mean nothing to us! All you are is an annoying red-headed twerp, that can’t manage her Pokémon. You call yourself a Water type Pokémon trainer, but your Psyduck can’t even swim! No wonder Togepi left you! You’re weak and hopeless, and now you’re a Gym Leader, pfft, what a joke.’ Brock sneered.

Tracey, Gary and Brock roared with laughter, but Ash was silent, his face was as straight as an arrow.

‘Ash, please.’ Misty pleaded, grabbing his forearms with a sense of hope.

‘Get off me!’ he shouted, yanking her off of him.

‘I wish I never met you, all you did was get in my way. You made my life a nightmare! I’m glad you left! We were never best friends, no, we were never friends. You were just some bratty runt that pretended to follow me so you could get a new bike. The truth is, my feelings for you are like that bike of yours I destroyed; useless and pathetic!’

‘Ash, no.’ Misty sobbed.

Then they all started laughing.

The room begun to spin around in circles. With each rotation a new person appeared and joined in with the laughter; her sisters, Delia Ketchum, Professor Oak, Cerulean City’s Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny, Casey, Sakura, Rudy, Mahri, Melody, Dorian, Ritchie, Georgio, Marina, Team Rocket, Meowth, Pikachu, Togepi, all her other Pokémon, May, Max and even Sam. As the room continued to spin, the faces became blurred and the laughter distorted. Then…

She woke up.

Misty snapped up to a sitting position, trembling in a cold sweat.

‘What was that all about?’

Draping her legs over the side of the bed, Misty decided to get up for a while. Walking down the stairs Misty realised she had forgotten to do two things before she went to bed; first was to check her emails, the second; to check on Azurill and Psyduck.

After typing in the password to get into reception, Misty quickly turned the computer on, and decided to check on Azurill and Psyduck while the computer started up.

Downstairs, where the aquariums were also, Misty found Azurill and Psyduck sleeping on the blue leather lounge at the end of the hall.

‘Aw you guys.’ Misty whispered as she knelt beside them. Misty had been training them hard lately, especially Psyduck, who was trying to learn how to swim. She rubbed both their heads gently before turning away and heading towards reception.

As expected the computer was ready to go and was asking for the password. Misty quickly typed in a mix of digits and letters, than clicked on the email icon on her desktop; a Pidgey with a letter in its yellow beak.

There were five new emails, none of which from Ash.

The first one was from Brock stating that in a few days time he would be also going on a break for a month; and was keen to catch up, the second from Cerulean City’s Nurse Joy, confirming that she would come around to the gym on Saturday morning to pick up Pokémon from the aquarium that weren’t personally staying with Misty or her sisters. A third from Dorian; who had been a great help over the last few months with ideas for renovations, and had said that he planned to come and visit when he had the time, the fourth was another confirmation email, but this time from the demolishing and construction company that were starting on Monday. After sending quick replies to the first four, Misty opened the fifth.

Misty’s eyes widened, her teeth clenched and her hands made fists.

‘He wasn’t supposed to email here.’ she thought angrily.

Misty nervously looked around, afraid someone might catch her, and read the email, and after finishing, sat back and put her fingers to her mouth.

‘This changes everything. Great timing too.’

Staring at the computer screen for five minutes, Misty wrote; ‘I’ll be there in a week.’

Sighing, Misty turned off the computer and decided to head towards the main pool arena to sit on the diving board; her favourite place in the whole entire Gym. She now had some thinking to do, and quite a lot of organising, because now it seemed she had to go to the Orange Archipelago, whether she wanted to or not.

Locking the reception again, Misty strolled towards the other end of the pool, where the diving board stood.

After climbing the ladder, she now sat, her legs hanging, her thoughts wondering.

She was looking towards the gigantic sun roof and watched as lightning and rain painted the ceiling, with bright yellows and watery greys.

‘I wanted to go with Gary and Tracey, but I strongly stood by my decision to stay at the Gym and watch over the renovations. Can I just change my mind like this? To say yes right away would make tonight’s discussion look like it was all for nothing. Maybe I could-‘

‘Can’t you sleep either Red?’ a voice called from the bottom of the ladder.

Surprised, Misty jumped, than peered down to see Gary, waving his right arm back and forth.

‘You’re just not paying attention to your surroundings!’ Gary called a smirking growing on his face, ‘can I join you?’

‘Erh, I think it’s made for only one person.’ Misty called.

‘I’ll take my chances.’

‘So about tonight.’ Misty began as Gary climbed up the ladder.

‘Don’t worry about it; I just thought it would be a good idea.’ Gary stated as he sat at the other end of the diving board, being careful not to get closer to Misty in case it flung them both off.

‘Well, I’m considering it.’

‘You are?’

‘But I still don’t think I should leave, I mean the Gym is my responsibility.’

‘But it isn’t your dream.’

Misty glanced up towards Gary, and nodded.

‘Once upon a time, I used to think training to be the World’s Greatest Pokémon Master was my dream, and heck I was good at it, but I didn’t feel anything. But I plugged away thinking it was just my confidence or something-‘

‘You? Gary? Doubting your confidence?’ Misty taunted.

‘Yeah, but then I realised it wasn’t for me. What further made up my mind was when Ash beat me in the Silver Conference. At that moment I realised that training Pokémon wasn’t my passion in life, but perhaps, researching. Working at the Sayda Lab, and collaborating with Professor Rowan have both been the best experiences of my life, all because I pursued what I wanted to do.’

‘But the Gym, I just can’t-‘

‘Brock always wanted to be a Pokémon Breeder right? Well he left the Pewter City Gym with you and Ash in order to get closer to his dream! And now he’s studying to be a Pokémon Doctor! You don’t know what you want until you go out there and try different things!’ Gary said passionately, ‘Tracey left the Orange Archipelago with you and Ash; and he didn’t know where it was going to take him! He ended up meeting his idol; Professor Oak, and now he is really keen on Pokémon researching!’

‘You’re right.’ Misty sighed, looking down the floor.

‘So, what are you going to do?’

Misty thought for a second, than looked to Gary. ‘Give me a week to think about it,’ she replied, ‘what day and what time are you guys leaving?’

‘Probably next Saturday. We’ve looked up ferry times and probably want to catch the midday ferry, so we would want to leave for Vermillion at six.’

‘Here’s the deal, if I choose to go with you, I’ll meet youse at the Pokémon Centre in Vermillion at eleven, if I’m not there by eleven thirty; you’ll know my choice.’

Ash and Pikachu were sitting on a dark blue lounge facing a fireplace. They were in the Accumula Town Pokémon Centre, enjoying a nice warm cup of tea. For two days now, Ash and Pikachu were alone together; Iris returned to Opelucid City to train with Drayden; the City’s Gym Leader, and Cilan returned to Striaton City to resume his place as Gym Leader, alongside his brothers Cress and Chili.

Ash noticed at the corner of his eye a few computers lined up at the back of reception.

‘Well I suppose I could check some emails, haven’t done that in while.’ Ash chuckled. He and Pikachu walked over, cup of tea in hand.

While the computer started up, Ash thought of what he could do now that he was by himself, and there were no new regions to explore. ‘Maybe I could reshuffle my Pokémon team and train even harder? I could visit friends, go home and stay with mum for a while or get a job with Professor Oak?’

By the time Ash processed these thoughts, the computer was on. Ash clicked the familiar Pidgey with a letter in its mouth and waited for his emails to pop up; and boy there were a lot of emails!

There were emails from May, Dawn and Max, inquiring how he was and that they hoped to see him soon. His mother had sent him a lot of emails with pictures of her on holidays with Mr. Mime and even some of her and Professor Oak at the lab. In some of his photos Tracey could be seen posing with some of Ash’s Pokémon, and Gary was shown to be crouching over papers and drawings writing busily; showing a lot of concentration. There were various other emails from people he had met through the course of his journeys through Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh and Unova.

As Ash read the email and examined all the photos, a reminiscent grin crept on his face. He was so happy to have met all these people and their Pokémon, and hearing from them again was an amazing feeling.

As Ash finished writing quick replies to each email, he found that he had two emails left; one from Misty and Brock. He felt as though these were the most important emails in his inbox, because not only had he not heard from them in a while, but they were the friends that started off with him on his journey; and he hated to think where he would’ve gotten without them.

He opened Brock’s first, happy to read his recounts of all their adventures. Brock proudly discussed his Gym, and boasted about his eldest brother; who had become quite the trainer. He spoke briefly about all the studying he was doing, and couldn’t wait until his break came up in two months. He also described in detail, all the pretty girls that he seen around Pewter City.

Ash laughed heartedly at this.

He then wished Ash all the best in the Unova region, declaring that he’d hope to see him very soon, and that he’d be cheering for him all the way.

Ash smiled and thanked Brock mentally for everything and began to write a reply.

Before reading Misty’s email, Ash got up and took his and Pikachu’s empty cups to the kitchen, rinsed them and came back.

He stared at Misty’s email unsure of what to expect. The last time he saw her was years ago; and that was via videophone. Emails were scarce due to the non-stop travelling and Pokémon battles. He supposed she was busy with the Gym, making it the toughest in all the regions no doubt. He had checked the League website a few months ago, and Misty’s Gym was ranked number one in all Kanto, and was ranked eleventh in all the five regions. He was extremely proud of her, and didn’t doubt her ability as a trainer for a second; he even hoped to see and battle her again sometime soon.

Clicking the email, Ash expected an email all in caps lock, practically blaming him for not making any effort to contact her in so long; and that would be 100% correct. But to his surprise, the email was composed of well wishes and eagerness to catch up with him again soon. She asked him all about the Unova region; the people he met, the Pokémon he had seen and caught, and the Gym Leaders he had challenged so far. Misty hardly spoke about herself; she seemed only interested (and a little jealous) in Ash’s travels.

‘Yeah, you’re right Pikachu. I miss her too,’ Ash replied smiling, ‘I better write her a reply; maybe we could see each other again.’
Hi Misty,

Thanks for the email! I’m well, and I have got plenty of new and strong Pokémon, and plenty of badges! Unova is great! It’s official, it’s just Pikachu and I now; Iris and Cilan, left two days ago, Iris left to become a Gym Leader and Cilan returned to resume being a Gym Leader. I hope being a Gym Leader is everything you’d thought it’d be. Pikachu says hello and-

Bbbbbbbiiiiiiinnnnnnnggggggg!

Before Ash could finish off the rest of his email, an alert for a new email popped up in the bottom corner of the screen. Without thinking Ash clicked the send button and opened the new email.

Dear Ash Ketchum,

As an Orange League Champion, we are inviting you to participate in the All-Stars Orange League Championship! Celebrating the 350th Anniversary; we are inviting all winners of the Orange League to return and battle it out for the prestigious title of Orange League Pokémon Master! This event is held every fifty years on Pummelo Island, and is an Orange Archipelago tradition. It will take place eleven weeks from today.

However as a requirement, we are asking all trainers to return with the Pokémon they used when they challenged and defeated the Head Gym Leader in the League.

If you do not have one or several of these Pokémon in your possession anymore, please fill out the form attached and submit in order to enter another Pokémon of the same type.

‘Wow Pikachu! The All-Stars Orange League Championship! We have to enter!’

Ash replied to the email with a yes and sent it away in matter of seconds.

‘Pika pi.’ Pikachu motioned back to the screen.

‘What is it Pikachu?’ Ash asked puzzled.

‘Pikachu! Pika pika pi. Chu chu!’

‘I didn’t read the email properly?’

Ash read through the email again slowly, than realised his mistake.

‘I need to use the Pokémon I used when I challenged Drake?!’ Ash yelled than face-faulted.

‘Pi.’ Pikachu asserted.

‘But I released Lapras! I have no idea where it would be!’ Ash cried, ‘but I want to use the Pokémon I used when I competed in the Orange League!’

Ash lent back in the chair and stretched his arms behind his head.

‘What am I gonna do?’

‘Pika pi! Chu chu pika pika pika pi!’

‘You’re right, we do have eleven weeks; we could go to that Marine Pokémon laboratory near New Bark Town, maybe Naomi might know where Lapras is.’

‘Pikapi!’

‘We could visit Liza from the Charicific Valley to get Charizard, and Officer Jenny to get Squirtle back from the Squirtle Squad. Tauros and Bulbasaur are at Professor Oak’s Lab. Maybe this could work after all.’

‘Pika!’

‘Okay than it’s settled; tomorrow we head for New Bark Town!’ Ash announced fist pumping the air.

Pikachu nodded in agreement and jumped up onto Ash’s shoulder. Ash turned the computer off and headed back towards the lounge to collect his belongings.

‘We should get some sleep Pikachu, we’ve gotta get up early tomorrow.’

‘Pikachu.’

Ash and Pikachu headed back to their room; excited for a new adventure and ecstatic to see old friends, and by the time Ash put his head on the pillow, he had totally forgotten about Misty’s email.

***

Two weeks, after Ash and Pikachu left Accumula Town; they reached New Bark Town; eager to find out where Lapras was. A few hours later, they arrived at the Marine Pokémon Laboratory, where they met up with Naomi, a browned-headed Pokémon researcher. Naomi was happy to explain that the pod of Lapras Ash’s Lapras was a part of, was migrating at the moment. However, they weren’t due to pass by at their location until approximately four months.

‘But I need my Lapras for the All-Stars Orange League Championship! Naomi, do you happen to know where they will be passing by right now?’

Naomi thought for a moment than went over to her laptop and began typing away.

‘You’re lucky Ash, last time the Lapras swam past, I was lucky enough to place a tracking device on one of the baby Lapras. It won’t harm it, but a part of my research requires me to document the travelling patterns of Lapras. To ensure I get accurate and reliable results, I’m not only using the supersonic waves from my Lanturn, but a tiny tracking device. And it has done a brilliant job.’

Ash walked over to Naomi and peered at the laptop screen.

‘By the look of things, your Lapras; assuming it is still a part of the pod, is heading towards Pacifidlog Town in the Hoenn Region. They’re due to arrive in a few days time. I don’t think your gonna make it, because after they leave Pacifidlog Town, they go out into the ocean and don’t return for a month.’

‘I will make it! If I leave now!’ Ash vowed grabbing his bag and Pikachu off the table. ‘Thanks for your help Naomi!’ Ash called running out the door.

‘Wait Ash! Do you know how to get there?’

Ash skidded than came to a stop.

‘Yeah I’ve been to the Hoenn Region before!’

‘Let me rephrase; do you know how to get to Pacifidlog Town in just two days?’

Ash ran back, ‘how Naomi!? You’ve got to tell me!’ he begged.

Naomi giggled and motioned Ash to the road in the other direction. ‘I have a friend, who owns a boat, who regularly visits from the Hoenn Region. He usually stays at that little house down the road. Tell him I sent you, I’m sure he’ll be willingly to take you there.’ she smiled.

‘Thanks Naomi!’ Ash called as he run off in the other direction, still holding onto a very flustered Pikachu.

Further down the road there was a small dock with a house on its shore.

‘This must be it Pikachu.’ Ash said as he let go of Pikachu and slung his bag over his shoulder.

They walked up to the house; a tiny weather boarded shack, painted white with a brown tin roof. Ash reached the door and knocked three times. Inside, a squawk could be heard as well as a mumbled ‘just a minute!’

The door opened and standing in the doorway was Mr Briney. Standing tall and proud, Mr Briney smiled, his white beard dancing in the breeze.

‘Why Ash! What can I do for you!?’ he said as Peeko, his Wingull, waddled past his legs and greeted Pikachu.

‘Uh, Mr Briney? I didn’t know you knew Naomi.’

‘Ah yes. She collaborates with other researchers back in Hoenn and I’m there little messenger!’ Mr Briney replied cackling heartedly, ‘but her father and I are good friends, so it’s always a pleasure to come visit their family.’

‘Oh.’ Ash said a little flabbergasted.

‘So what can I do for you?’

‘Well uh…’

Ash began to explain with great detail, what had happened over the last two weeks and today. Mr Briney listened, interested in what the young boy had to say. Outside Pikachu and Peeko played in the swallow waves; splashing and tackling each other.

‘So, I uh need to get to Pacifidlog Town in just two days. And Naomi said you could-‘

‘Why of course!’ Briney declared slapping Ash on the back, sending him flying. ‘Just help me set up the boat and we can get going in an hour!’

Briney looked down to see Ash face down on the floor sweat-dropping.

‘Uh thanks sir.’ Ash mumbled.

***

Two days later, Ash and Pikachu had safely arrived in Pacifidlog town, with the help of Mr Briney; who wished them all the best. They now sat on the beach waiting for Lapras to show.

The next morning as the sun rose; accompanied by orange and pink flashes of light, the familiar sound of a Lapras cry echoed. Ash leapt to his feet, half asleep and ran towards the ocean, waving his arms.

‘Lapras! Lapras!’ he screamed, now knee deep in the water.

One of the Lapras, which happened to be one of the biggest stopped and turned towards Ash.

‘Lapras! It’s me Ash!’ Ash called out again.

‘Pipipi!’ Pikachu reciprocated.

Lapras now began to swim at full speed towards the shore, calling out its name happily. When Lapras was only a metre away from Ash it began to slow down, causing a wave to crash into Ash at a decent speed.

‘Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!’

‘Pikapi!’

As the water settled, Pikachu was relieved to see that Ash was okay, but he was drenched and was sprawled on his back, his messy black hat hair was soaked and matted over his face, his hat was nowhere to be seen.

‘Ahhhhh.’ Lapras cooed worriedly as it grabbed Ash by the collar and lifted him up to his feet.

‘Thanks Lapras. How are you buddy?’

‘Ahhhhhhhhhh!’ Lapras replied with enthusiasm.

‘That’s great Lapras,’ Ash chuckled, ‘Say Lapras; do you want to join my team again? There’s an All-Stars Orange League Championship, and I’d love you to fight alongside me again.’

Lapras solemnly looked back towards the pod. The pod were now closer to shore and looking on at the scene with uncertainty. Lapras than cooed loudly and assertively, the others glanced at each other briefly than nodded at Ash’s Lapras. One by one the Lapras’ swam off, leaving Ash, Lapras and Pikachu alone on the beach.

‘Lapras. Thank you.’ Ash said with sincerity.

***

Ash returned to the Pokémon Centre in Pacifidlog town, now hatless. He decided it was time to send the Pokémon he caught in Unova Region back to Professor Oak to make space for Lapras and soon, Squirtle and Charizard. Ash also decided to inform Professor Oak that he would soon need his Tauros and Bulbasaur to compete in the League.

Sitting in front of the videophone; waiting for the Professor to answer, Ash began to contemplate his next move. ‘I know where Charizard is, but I don’t know where Squirtle is, I think I might look it up on the internet, maybe there-‘

‘Ah hello?’ A voice croaked.

‘Professor! It’s me Ash! How are you?!’ Ash exclaimed.

‘Why Ash, it’s good to hear from you! I’m good, but busy. How are you?’

‘I’m good! I’m in Pacifidlog Town!’

‘Pacifidlog Town? I thought you were still in Unova?’

‘Well something has come up, there’s an All-Stars Orange League Championship, and…’ Ash once again explained what happened over the last few weeks.

‘Well Ash! What an honour! I heard there was an Annual Fire-fighting Competition in Sinnoh that’s due to start in four days! Perhaps that’s where your Squirtle is?’

‘Yeah you’re right! Looks like I’m heading to Sinnoh!’

‘Yes. Would you like me send Tauros and Bulbasaur to you?’

‘Uh no, I think I’ll come and get them after I find Squirtle and Charizard; I’m due to visit a few people back home.’

‘Ah very well, well I best be off! And so should you! Good luck Ash! Take care and don’t forget to call your mother, she’s worried about you.’

‘Sure thing Professor, see ya soon!’

Ash put the phone down, and decided to ask Nurse Joy if there were any ferry’s heading towards Sinnoh.

Hi everyone,
Sorry for taking so long on this chapter...I'm afraid it was a combination of being busy and finding it hard to write 'Ash' chapters. It's not as long as my other chapters, but is still an important piece to the story. Anyways enjoy, reviews will be greatly appreciated!

Chapter 6 - On the Road Again (part 2):

A few hours later, Ash and Pikachu had arrived safely in Canalave City.

‘Wait!’ Nurse Joy called out again as Ash and Pikachu both face-faulted.

‘It’ll take a few days to get there by foot, would you like some form of transportation there?’

‘No, thanks Nurse Joy,’ Ash chuckled, picking himself off the floor, ‘we’ll walk, it won’t take us that long.’

‘Pikachu!’

‘Very well, well I hope you have a splendid time.’ Nurse Joy smiled.

‘Thanks,’ Ash cringed, worried she’d called out to him again, but luckily she didn’t, ‘okay, let’s go Pikachu!’

‘Pikapi!’

A few days later…

‘We made it!’ Ash cried stretching out his arms.

In front of Ash and Pikachu, was the beautiful and bustling city of Hearthome. Contests and Gym battles were hosted here, but now, a new stadium-like building was constructed for miscellaneous activities; this month its main event would be the Annual Fire-fighting Competition.

Ash and Pikachu hastily paced the city; following the numerous posters promoting the competition.

‘I wonder where they-ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!’

Pikachu jumped around to see Ash sprawled on the ground, around him several Squirtles wearing sunglasses, stood around him chuckling animatedly.

‘I’m so sorry,’ a voice called further down the road behind Ash, ‘they just took off for some reas- oh Ash! I didn’t recognise you without your hat!’

From over the hill, Officer Jenny appeared, wearing her neat, dark blue uniform with red trim and shoulder pads. Her hat sat firmly on her green-blue hair that she was scratching in embarrassment.

On the ground, Ash was now hugging his Squirtle, and laughing. ‘It’s good to see you again buddy!’

‘Squirtle! Squirt!’

***

An hour later, Ash, Officer Jenny, Pikachu and the Squirtle Squad were sitting around a small table in the Hearthome City’s Pokémon Centre. Pikachu and the Squirtles were chatting away and eating Pokémon food (Pikachu also had a bottle of ketchup), while Ash and Jenny were talking about their respective competitions.

‘Of course you can use Squirtle! He is your Pokémon,’ Officer Jenny waved, ‘but the Annual Fire-fighting competition lasts for around two weeks.’

‘Two weeks!’ Ash coughed, nearly choking on his hamburger.

‘Yes, assuming we do well of course.’

‘Of course you will!’ Ash declared, tightening his hand into a fist.

‘Why thank you Ash.’ Nurse Joy giggled.

Ash also laughed, but then went quiet as he began to think.

‘If I have to wait for Squirtle for two weeks, what’ll happen if I can’t find Charizard? What if he isn’t at the Charicific Valley? What happens if I need more time than I have?’

‘What’s wrong Ash?’

Ash glanced up to see Officer Jenny staring worriedly at him.

‘I just need my Charizard now in order to compete in the All-Stars Orange League Championship. But I’m not sure if he is even at the Charicific Valley.’

‘Don’t worry Ash. Maybe you should call Liza just to make sure your Charizard is at the Valley and is available.’

‘Yeah you’re right Jenny; I think I might do that now. Could you watch Pikachu for me?’

‘Of course.’ Jenny replied as she sipped her tea.

Ash headed over to the videophones and typed in Liza’s phone number. As Ash fidgeted with the phone line while he waited, he began to think about his team all together again; just like they were when they fought and won the Orange League.
‘This is going to be the best; I can’t wait to compete with my old friends, and win the All-Stars Orange League Championship!’

‘Well he is your Charizard! However, I do need its help over the next week or so…do you need him now?’

‘No. I don’t mind coming over in around two weeks; I’m making my way back home anyway.’ Ash grinned.

‘Oh okay then, that’s fine with me. Your Charizard is doing great by the way! He has certainly come along way.’

‘That’s good to here, thanks so much Liza.’

‘No problem Ash, anyways I need to get going, I’ll see you in a few weeks.’

‘Yeah, thanks again Liza. Bye.’

Putting the phone back down in the receiver, Ash smiled to himself but couldn’t but feel a little nostalgic.

Ash began to reminisce on the good old days with his first Pokémon, and his first friends; Misty and Brock. He had not seen them so long, especially Misty, and that felt wrong to him. Suddenly, as if it was burning, Ash reached into his pocket and pulled out a pink cloth. On it was a red spot surrounded by yellow lines. Ash stared at it longingly for a while, wondering if Brock, and Misty, ever thought about him as much as he thought about them.

‘I miss you guys. I promise, I’ll come and see youse as soon as I get my Pokémon back, I swear.’

‘Pika?’

Ash was immediately snapped out of his thoughts by his yellow friend. Pikachu was also staring at the handkerchief, somewhat mirroring what Ash was thinking as well.

‘You miss them to, don’t ya buddy?’

Pikachu nodded solemnly.

Ash slipped the handkerchief back into his pocket and stood up, extending his arm out to Pikachu.

‘We’ll see them soon buddy, but right now I think we should get some sleep.’

‘Pika.’ Pikachu agreed, hopping up onto Ash and perching itself on Ash’s shoulder. Ash smiled at his friend and began to walk back to Officer Jenny so he could wish her goodnight.

3 weeks ago…

Ash and Pikachu were standing outside the Charicific Valley. The shadow of the mountain above; an enormous rocky Charizard, covered them like a black sheet. Behind them, there was a beautiful valley harbouring crystal clear water; with Charizard-shaped statues piercing through the surface. This watery mirror reflected the valley; where more jagged mountains reached towards the sky.

‘Well this is our last stop before we head back home to Pallet Town Pikachu; I can’t believe we found Lapras and Squirtle! It’s good to have them back on our team!’ Ash declared.

‘Pikapi!’ Pikachu agreed.

After cheering on Officer Jenny and the Squirtle Squad at the Annual Fire-fighting Competition, Ash and the rest of his team trekked to the Charicific Valley near Violet City, back in the Johto Region. It had taken them a week to get there, and now they were sighing with relief; happy to have finally reached their destination.

‘Ash!’ a voice bellowed from above.

Ash glanced up, a little surprised. In the sky above him, Liza; who was riding on Charla, and Ash’s Charizard, were soaring at an alarming rate towards Pikachu and himself.

Swiftly, both Charizards landed safely a few metres from Ash and Pikachu, standing proudly.

Ash got up quickly and approached Charizard; a huge grin on his face.

‘Charizard! It’s so good to see you!’ Ash cried as he leapt into Charizard arms hugging his Pokémon. Charizard roared affectionately as it returned the hug.

‘Charizard really missed you Ash.’ Liza replied as she walked up to him.

‘Yeah, I missed him too.’ Ash smiled, as he hopped back down to the ground.

Liza giggled, than glanced to Charla, ‘I think Charla will miss him though.’

Ash looked at both Charizards, a little confused, but then nodded his head in realisation.

Liza sweat-dropped, ‘so Ash, when does the All-Stars Orange League Championship start?’

‘In about three weeks.’ Ash answered; a determined look on his face.

Liza than extended her arm, taking Ash by surprise, ‘Good luck Ash,’ she said firmly, ‘together you and your Charizard will do extremely well.’

Ash also extended his arm and shook Liza’s.

‘Thank you Liza, if it wasn’t for you Charizard wouldn’t be as powerful as he is today.’

Liza shook her head in disagreement and handed Ash Charizard’s Pokéball, ‘No Ash, it was your choice to leave Charizard here. Not many trainers would do that, and because of that, your Charizard is stronger than ever, because it has been training and living with its own kind.’

‘Thank you,’ Ash smiled and took the Pokéball from Liza and turned to Charizard, ‘ready to go?’

So...I'm going to be busy over the next few weeks...so I pumped out a chapter!
Enjoy!

Chapter 7 - Getting the Show on the Road (part 1):

It had been three days since Tracey and Gary left the Cerulean City Gym, and now they were growing restless.
They were busy; documenting and recording findings, as well as organising their trip to the Orange Archipelago, but they couldn’t help but feel excited for their upcoming trip. The prospect of uncovering a mystery, which had now plagued the area for a few weeks, was something that would boost the creditability of Tracey and Gary’s careers. But that wasn’t the only reason. The islands were beautiful and were filled with amazing Pokémon, but, both Tracey and Gary agreed that the main reason they decided to go was to hopefully help out in any way they could.

They also hoped Misty would join them.

***
The morning after the boys had arrived at the gym; soaked to the bone, Gary got Tracey aside and told him of the conversation he had with Misty the night before. They had gotten up simultaneously, and were now standing in the hallway whispering loudly.

‘You mean she’s considering it!’ Tracey exclaimed.

‘Shush,’ Gary hissed pointing to the closed door down the hall, ‘she’s probably still sleeping. I think she understands where we’re coming from, but I wouldn’t press her any further. All we can do is wait and see.’

Tracey nodded and smiled. ‘She’ll come with us; the Misty I know loves adventure and travelling; life here at the gym must bore her.’

Gary sighed, ‘I agree, but she is extremely loyal to the place, who knows. Anyways, we better get ready to go, Gramps is waiting for us.’

They both walked down the hallway into the kitchen to find cereal boxes, cutlery, two mugs, a loaf of bread, bowls, plates and a bowl of fruit spread out neatly on the table. There was also a note:
Morning guys!

I was up pretty early this morning, and wasn’t sure what you liked for breakfast, so I brought everything out for you, everything else is in the fridge. Your backpacks are dry; I’ve placed them with the rest of your stuff.

-Misty

‘Wow, she didn’t have to do this.’ Tracey said in awe.

‘Yeah,’ Gary answered smiling, ‘guess we better get started, I’m still half asleep; I think I need a cup of tea. We’ll thank her immediately after we have breakfast and get dressed.’

‘Good idea.’ Tracey agreed switching the jug on.

Gary and Tracey both ate and got organised quickly; feeling the need to find Misty and thank her immensely. Walking downstairs, they found Misty standing with Nurse Joy. Nurse Joy and Misty were each holding two full boxes of Pokémon balls under their arms.

‘Is that all of them Misty?’

‘All the Pokémon you’re taking, yes. I suppose the rest of the trainers are coming later on in the day to pick up their Pokémon. I’ve sent emails and made phone calls, they all know.’

‘That’s good. I’ll make sure these Pokémon will find good homes while the Gym is out of action; some of the Pokémon might even find a permanent place to stay.’

‘Sounds good,’ Misty’s aquamarine eyes darted to the two boys rushing down the stairs, ‘oh, why good morning you two.’

‘Good morning.’ They answered in unison both running over and taking a box from both Misty and Nurse Joy.

‘Thank you Tracey,’ Nurse Joy acknowledged as Tracey took her second box from her, ‘would you mind carrying them to the truck?’

‘Of course not!’ Tracey replied.

Nurse Joy flashed a smile as she turned around and headed out reception, leaving Misty, Tracey and Gary alone.

‘Misty, thank you so much for organising breakfast,’ Gary began.

‘Yeah Misty, you’ve done so much for us, I don’t know where I would begin to make it up to you.’ Tracey added.

Misty chuckled and waved her free hand. ‘It was nothing, really. I’d do anything for my friends.’ she commented, turning around herself.

Gary flinched at this, but then shrugged it off and followed Misty out. Tracey noticed this, and decided to ask him what that was all about later.

Outside, Nurse Joy’s truck was parked parallel to the gym. The four of them were now loading the Pokéballs into the special compartments in the back.

‘Wow, how many Pokéballs are there?’ Tracey said.

‘I think I’ve lost count; maybe a hundred?’ Misty replied.

Gary gasped in amazement, ‘You’ve taken in all these Pokémon?’

‘Sure have. All water type Pokémon that were victims of criminal organisations, neglected by their trainers or injured after natural disasters. They’ve been living in the aquariums below the gym. I’m just happy to have been able to help them.’

‘You knew about this Tracey?’ Gary asked.

‘Yeah, I sometimes help bring them in if Misty is too busy. But I didn’t know there was this many.’

‘While it’s a good thing; I am running out of room. Even with the renovations, it still won’t be big enough to accommodate them and the Pokémon that belong to my sisters and I. Nurse Joy is going to try find homes for them.’

‘Those you can’t find homes for are more than welcome to come and live at Gramp’s lab. There’ so much room, I’m sure they’ll fit right in.’ Gary declared.

‘That’s a good idea Gary.’ Nurse Joy approved.

‘Yeah,’ Misty agreed, ‘thank you.’

Gary flicked his spiky brown hair and smiled, ‘it’s no problem.’

When they finished loading the truck, Nurse Joy jumped in the driver’s seat and started the engine.

‘I’ll be back sometime this afternoon to help out some more,’ Nurse Joy assured, ‘I’ll see you than. Good bye.’

‘Thank you Nurse Joy, see you then.’ Misty called.

‘Bye.’ Gary and Tracey said together watching the truck drive down the road.

Misty turned to them, ‘so, when are you guys leaving.’

Gary looked at watch; it read 8:15am.

‘By 9am, I hope. We still gotta pack.’

Misty nodded, ‘I’d love to help you but I gotta start clearing the gym out. Lily and Violet left at six this morning, and Daisy is still asleep,’ Misty grunted folding her arms, ‘I’ve been up since five-thirty, and I’m not even half way through it all.’

‘We can help you! It won’t take us long to pack. I’m sure we could get a lot done in an hour or so.’ Tracey suggested.

Gary nodded in agreement.

‘Ok, if you have time. I’m gonna get started now.’

An hour later, Gary and Tracey were standing outside the gym, facing Misty. They had gotten a fair bit done within the hour, but now they had to go.

‘Thanks for having us Misty.’ Tracey said giving her a hug.

‘No problem Tracey, thank you for your help too!’

Pulling away from Tracey, Misty turned to Gary.

Gary extended his arm out to her, ‘thank you Misty, and good luck with everything. We hope to see you soon.’

Gary and Tracey were sitting on the brown leather lounge on the research floor, sorting through notes, when Tracey remembered Gary’s peculiar reaction.

‘Gary, back at Misty’s, when she said I’d do anything for my friends, why did you flinch like that?’

Gary looked at him a little angry, but altogether surprised. ‘What do you mean?’

‘She called us her friends; and you looked like someone just slapped you in the face.’

‘Just didn’t think we were friends; that’s all.’ Gary replied coolly.

‘Than why did you invite her to come with us to the Orange Archipelago?’

Gary sighed, ‘I dunno, an impulse thing? I suppose it was because of the look on her face when she spoke of the Gym. She’s obviously bored with it all, and I can relate to how she feels. I felt that way about training Pokémon competitively, and when I switched to researching; I found something I wouldn’t give up for anything. Maybe, if she comes with us, she will too.’

Tracey nodded understandingly, and then went back to sifting through his sketches. Gary stared at him; waiting for a snide remark, but there was nothing.

‘Sounds like something a friend would do to me.’ Tracey thought.

***

For them, Saturday was coming about very slowly, but for Misty it was approaching very quickly. After Gary and Tracey left, people were coming out of the gym like there was no tomorrow; trainers picking up their Pokémon, Nurse Joy; who had been very helpful, and volunteers; also offering a hand to move things to the back of the gym. Misty and Daisy were running about like headless chooks; making last minute arrangements and tidying up before the demolition would begin Monday morning. It wasn’t until Thursday evening; when the work on the gym was well under way, that Daisy noticed something was bothering her red-headed sister.

‘Misty, is like everything okay?’

‘Yeah, just a little tired that’s all. Why?’

‘You seem unusually quiet, for someone who is normally loud and annoying.’

Misty’s head jerked back slightly; surprised that her sister picked up on how she was feeling. ‘Well…’ she sighed. Misty then went on to tell her sister about the offer she had received from Gary and Tracey to travel with them in the Orange Archipelago, all the while her sister remained silent, nodding at times.
When Misty finished, her sister stood up. Waiting for some form of argument, Misty braced herself.

‘Well,’ Daisy began, ‘I think it’s a great idea!’

‘Huh!’ Misty spluttered face-faulting.

‘Misty you need to like get out. You’ve worked so hard on the gym. This is the time to go; you have a month, maybe more; I have improved on my battling, so I can act as Gym Leader in case you take longer!’

‘Yeah but the Gym is my responsibility, I need to supervise the-‘

‘MISTY! We both went through what we wanted with the builders! I know like how to supervise! Lily and Violet will be back in a few days anyway!’ Daisy boasted.

‘Yeah, but-‘

‘Hush! Why are you so hesitant!? Is it because it’s Gary and Tracey, not Ash?!’

‘WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN!?”

‘You know exactly what it means! Misty, I know you’re like close with the guy, but you have to face the facts! You can’t wait around forever for Ash, and Brock, to come back; begging you to go on a brand new journey. Right in front you are two like hunky guys asking you to join them, why are you even thinking about it?’

Misty blushed, but than her face went still as her head bowed. Daisy looked at her sister, realising how rash she had been with her.

‘Misty,’ Daisy reassured, ‘I’m sorry, I just-I just want you to be happy. If going with Gary and Tracey is what you want to do, than, do it.’

Misty peered up, her eyes slightly watery ‘I miss them everyday Daisy. I see Brock a bit, but, I haven’t seen Ash in years and haven’t spoken to him in months. It’s like he has forgotten all about me.’

‘I know it’s hard Misty, but you can’t let it get you down. Do you want to go with Gary and Tracey?’

Misty nodded.

‘Than go.’

Misty hugged her sister feeling happier than she had felt in years.

‘Thanks Daisy, are you sure you’ll be alright without me?’

‘Like please, with all the cute workers around; I’ll be fine!’

Misty laughed heartedly at this and stood up.

‘I better start getting organised; they’re leaving Saturday.’

Daisy smiled, ‘I’ll make us some tea.’

Misty walked across to the room she was staying out for the time being, and shut the door. Leaning against it, Misty cursed herself for lying to her sister, but it was necessary. Daisy had to think Misty was going to the Orange Archipelago solely to research Pokémon with Tracey and Gary. The whole ‘not sure if I even want to go’ act was all a façade, and it had been effective, I mean, she couldn’t just announce that she was leaving out of the blue; she had to really milk it.

Hi everyone!
I'll try to get a chapter out a week, but I'm pretty busy at the moment, so I'll see how I go!
I've finally made a banner for this ship (located in my signature)! Interested in what anyone has to say about it, and if anyone has had a good look at it yet, some of the pictures in the background (the black and white ones) not only show past events and memories, but give clues to what's going to happen in my fic!

There has also been a lot of talk of the new Pokemon episode this week, which had Misty and Brock in Ash's flashbacks, re-drawn and everything. Good to see the show hasn't forgotten the golden oldies!

So enjoy the 8th chapter! Reviews would be much appreciated, no flames!

Chapter 8 - Getting the Show on the Road (part 2):

‘Misty! Like wake up! You’re going to be late!’ Daisy yelled as she yanked Misty’s blue bed sheets off of her.

‘Erh what?’ Misty replied groggily.

Turning her head slightly to the left, Misty shrieked in horror. It was 9.30am; she was late.

‘Oh no!’ Misty bellowed as she jumped out of bed and began scurrying around the flat, ‘why didn’t you wake me earlier Daisy!’

‘I honestly thought you had left already. Besides you have plenty of time! The ferry leaves at midnight!’

‘It leaves at midday!’ Misty cried from her bedroom as she was getting changed.

‘You’re really going to take that dopey duck?’ Daisy snorted, pushing a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear.

‘Well there’s not much he can do around here with all these renovations going on. Besides, if he doesn’t always listen to me, what makes you think he’ll even listen to you!’

Daisy sweat-dropped as she watched her younger sister collected her ferry ticket and mobile phone off the kitchen bench, than come over to collect her Pokéballs. After attaching them to her belt Misty let out a long sigh than sat down next to Daisy.

‘I’ve got two hours to get there; I’m never going to make it.’

The girls sat in silence for a few seconds, and then Daisy jumped up excited.

‘I have an idea! You could like ride Gyarados from here to Vermillion! I know you’ll have to go out to sea, but it shouldn’t take too long!’

Misty jumped up as well. ‘That could work! I know Gyarados will get me there in no time!’

Both sisters stood there smiling at each other until Daisy leapt at her sister and embraced her in a tight hug.

‘Misty, please be careful.’

‘You don’t have to worry.’ Misty replied.

I know you’ve travelled before, and you were a lot younger, but, I’m still your big sister; it’s my job to worry.’

Misty pulled away and beamed at her sister.

‘I know it is, but I’ll have Tracey, and Gary, and I have my phone with me, and if that doesn’t work the Pokémon Centres will have phones. But Daisy, I really need to go.’

‘Oh yes, like of course. Have fun; don’t get up to too much trouble!’ Daisy winked.

Misty sighed as walked over to her new big, red backpack; which she had specifically brought for this journey, and picked it up and swung it over her shoulders. Azurill; who had followed her over, leapt up her body and sat idly at the top of the backpack.

Misty giggled and headed over towards the door, but turned back to face her sister.

‘If you need me for anything, I’ll come back in a heartbeat Daisy.’

‘Go,’ Daisy urged, ‘Violet, Lily and I can handle it.’

‘Okay. Well goodbye sis.’

‘Bye Misty.’ Misty replied as she opened the door and began to run at full speed. Daisy walked out and watched her sister disappear down the road.

‘Good luck Misty, and please, be careful.’

***

Gary and Tracey had arrived ahead of schedule and were now sitting outside the Vermillion Pokémon Centre; waiting for a certain red head to show up. According to Tracey’s watch, if Misty did indeed plan on showing up, she had exactly ten minutes.

‘She said eleven-thirty right?’ Tracey asked.

‘She said she’d meet us here at eleven, if she doesn’t get here at eleven-thirty; she isn’t coming.’

Tracey sighed and started looking around nervously.

Gary also looked around, hoping to spot Misty, but in a more calmer fashion.

But, in a matter of what felt like seconds, the ten minutes were up, and it was time for them to board the ferry.

‘Damn.’ Tracey murmured to himself.

Gary got up and started to walk towards the docks. ‘Let’s go Trace, let’s not be late.’

Gary and Tracey walked towards the ferry, boarded, and found a seat in the shade at the stern side of the ferry. Tracey looked to his watch again, ‘you know, she could be coming, the ferry doesn’t leave til’ 12pm, she’s got fifteen minutes.’

‘Give it up Trace, Misty isn’t-‘

‘Misty isn’t what?’ a voice grunted.

Gary and Tracey flinched, and spun around to see a majestic, yet intimidating Gyarados towering above them, and on top of it stood a smirking Misty; her hands resting on her hips.

‘Misty?!’ both boys cried as they stood up and approached the edge of the ferry.

‘In the flesh.’

‘Hey miss, you can’t be here!’ a voice called out assertively from further down the deck. A man dressed in white sailor’s attire came running up to her waving his arms back and forth, and gesturing away from the ferry.

‘I have a ticket,’ Misty called leaping down neatly, whipping out her ticket from her back pocket, ‘return Gyarados, thank you for getting me here on time.’ she commented, recalling her blue serpentine Pokémon.

The man took the ticket and examined every detail. He sighed and ripped off a little bit of the side and handed the rest back to Misty. ‘Thank you miss, but you must understand Pokémon of that size can’t get that close to the ferry.’ he said matter-of-factly eyeing Misty’s Azurill suspiciously.

‘Have a nice trip. We’ve got good weather for it.’ and with that he turned around and headed back to the docks.

Misty turned back to Gary and Tracey, who were standing there with jaws open.

‘You both wanted me to come, and I’m here.’ Misty teased, shrugging.

Gary and Tracey both exchanged glances and began laughing. ‘We know,’ Gary chuckled, ‘we weren’t expecting you to come after you didn’t arrive at the Pokémon Centre, and for you to arrive that way, well…it’s good to see you Red.’

‘Good to be here.’

‘Azurill!’ Azurill shrilled happily.

They all laughed together, as Gary and Tracey patted Misty on the shoulder friendlily and headed back to their seats.

***

The three sat at a rounded table in the shade. Gary; who was the tallest out of three, wore his familiar purple shirt, blue jeans, yellow boots with black straps, and his green and yellow pendant around his neck. Tracey; who was sipping on his bottle of water, wore his red bandana, light green T-shirt, red shorts and purple sneakers with yellow shoelaces.
And Misty; who had just placed a bowl of Pokémon food on the ground for Azurill to eat; wore her usual sleeveless butter-cream yellow vest, with a sky blue collar and button, underneath a blood red top that was tucked into her short shorts; which were also yellow, and orange sneakers.

‘So it was true!’ Misty claimed.

‘Yeah.’ Gary chuckled.

‘See Misty,’ Tracey jeered, ‘I told you that I’ve seen an Aerodactyl, and I grabbed its leg as it took off.’

‘I don’t believe that.’ Misty replied.

‘Well it’s true,’ Gary grinned, ‘we had just found it asleep, but it woke up, so Tracey here thought it was a good idea to grab a hold of it before it took off again’

Misty stared at Tracey in disbelief, ‘wow Tracey, but still, it must have been pretty dangerous.’

‘I think we have faced more dangerous scenarios with Ash.’ Tracey shrugged.

Misty smiled, ‘I can agree with you there.’

Tracey and Misty both leaned back in the chairs simultaneously; reminiscing on the days in the Orange Archipelago.

‘Tracey and I are both returning to the place where he met Ash; and where the three of us became a team; funnily enough without Ash.’

Gary caught on to the two’s silence, ‘they really think highly of him. I mean I do too, but I never experienced all the things they did when they travelled with him.’

‘I wonder what it would’ve been like if I joined Ash in Kanto; and travelled with him throughout the regions,’ Gary asked, trying to fill the silence, ‘there would’ve been a lot of arguments for sure.’

‘Not as many as the arguments between Ash and Misty!’

Misty shot Tracey a death glare.

Gary watched on laughing, ‘it was really that bad?’ Gary laughed.

‘No,’ Misty stammered, ‘he just didn’t know when to keep his mouth shut.’

Tracey laughed heartedly at this, ‘you guys fought like an old married couple!’ and took another swig of water out of his bottle.

Misty reached over and squeezed Tracey’s water bottle, and watched, satisfied as Tracey spluttered on the water that came rushing out.

But he was still laughing.

‘In all seriousness,’ Misty said, looking at Gary embarrassed, ‘even though you guys didn’t get along at first, I always got the impression he looked up to you; like a brother. I knew you guys were rivals, but he did respect you a lot. He still does in fact.’

Gary looked at her in a whole new light; the Misty he had seen over the years; travelling with Ash, seemed to have a short-temper and a hot head (he looked over to the now wet Tracey who still had a big grin on his face; but had shifted his chair away from Misty). But since talking to her that night at the gym, it seemed there was more to her than he had initially thought.
‘A Gym Leader that gives out badges on their own accord? Ash and I; like brothers?’ Gary thought incredulously.

Gary closed his eyes, folded his arms and smiled. ‘I suppose you’re right Red, Ashy-boy and I are like two peas in a pod, even though he isn’t always as fresh.’

Tracey and Misty snickered.

‘He did beat you at the Silver Conference.’ Tracey added.

‘He got lucky.’ Gary sneered.

‘Attention passengers!’ a voice hollered over the P.A. system, ‘we will be reaching our destination; Pummelo Island, in a matter of minutes, so we ask you to please gather your belongings and prepare to leave the ferry. Thank you for choosing us as your mode of transportation; we hope you enjoy your stay!’

Misty, Gary and Tracey smiled at each other as they got up, tucked their chairs in and walked over to the bow.

Before them was the beautiful Pummelo Island. Misty and Tracey gushed in excitement; happy to return to the place where Ash had become an Orange League Champion, while Gary stared at the gigantic stadium nestled on the grassy green hill; hiding his eagerness.

He glanced over to the overly-excited Misty and Tracey. Misty noticed, and stared back, smiling determinedly. Misty nodded to him. Gary nodded back. ‘This is it. Time to show the world what you’re made of, Oak.’

This is set to becoming a good piece of work. I have a question, is Sam an OC or a character from the anime?Just wondering and if I missed it, I'm sorry in advance. I'm struggling to picture what he looks like at the moment. I do think dialogue is one of your strong points though.

This is set to becoming a good piece of work. I have a question, is Sam an OC or a character from the anime?Just wondering and if I missed it, I'm sorry in advance. I'm struggling to picture what he looks like at the moment. I do think dialogue is one of your strong points though.

Wow thank you! I was getting a little worried that no one was liking/reading my story!

Sam is just a character I created, thought it would be better to emphasise that he is new to the whole training thing...I'm pretty sure, at this stage, he will not be making anymore appearances, but I apologise for not describing what he looks like :S

Really my dialogue?! Haha thank you, sometimes it just flows, sometimes it feels so corny. Finding other words for said can be a real pain in the...

Anyways thank you! By the way, as a writer, I'm interested to hear what the reader thinks is going to happen...so what are you thoughts?

(it may change further into story, don't know where exactly it's going yet)

I know this technically isn’t part of the story, but don’t tell me that! It’s the kind of thing that turns off a lot of readers since they want to know that the story they’re reading is going somewhere and that the writer has a plan. So even if you don’t have everything planned out… might be a good idea to keep that a secret!

From within, an orange with black strips canine emerged, and was now standing fiercely waiting for the opponent to make their move. Staryu; the opponent’s second Pokémon, questioningly turned back to its trainer, awaiting an order.

This sounds a bit awkward. How about “an orange, black-striped canine.” That flows better and makes it sound less like the description is interrupting itself. “Was now standing” should be “stood” since you started this story in the past tense.

What’s more, the semi-colon here is being used incorrectly. You use a semi-colon only when 1. You’re separating two complete clauses (as in, the two parts you’ve separated could stand on their own as sentences) or 2. When you’re making a list (usually when something you’re listing involves commas). In this case, you’d want to use a regular old comma instead of a semi-colon.

‘Focus Staryu,’ the girl whispered. ‘I know you’re tired, but this is the last Pokémon this kid has. We will win this,’

That should be a period instead of a comma at the end of that last sentence.

With no hesitation, the brown star-shaped Pokémon, leapt into the air and started to spin at an incredible speed towards the dog Pokémon.

There hasn’t been very much description so far (for example, we haven’t really established the setting) and what description we have has been very generic (basic color and shape descriptions that we don’t really need since most everyone reading this should be familiar with what the Pokemon look like). I’d say it’d help a lot if the description was stepped up in places so that it always has a purpose and isn’t so plain.

A high pitched yelp sounded in the arena, as the Staryu collided with Growlithe from behind.

I’d like to point out that this is the first mention of where we are. Taking the time to create a sense of atmosphere and define a location would make this feel a lot more grounded.

‘Damn, we worked so hard on developing those attacks, and fire moves are hopeless against water! I’m such an idiot! I shouldn’t be a trainer; I don’t know what to do! I don’t know what to do!!!’

I think you’re trying to get me to empathize with the trainer’s plight here, but since I don’t have much of a clue about him as a person, I’m not invested with him and can’t get into his emotions. Establishing some connection between him and the reader (introducing him to us, giving us a taste of his unique personality beyond the fact that he’s some trainer) would do a lot to make this moment more powerful.

Also, the rule with exclamation points is that you only use one.

‘Think positive Sam! I can do this!’

Should be: Think positive, Sam!

‘There must be something I can do.’ He said to himself.

Should be: ‘There must be something I can do,’ he said to himself.

Sam shielded his eyes with his forearm, Daisy, who was refereeing the match cowered and shrieked as she made herself into a ball. But Misty stood there tall, her eyes calculating and intense.

The fact that Daisy is just mention matter-of-factly seems rather inconsistent with the fact that you’ve felt the need to be ambiguous about every other character in this (i.e. Sam being referred to as just “the trainer” from the start and Misty just being referred to as a “girl”). I think it’d be better to either be ambiguous about Daisy as well, or just name Sam and Misty from the start (I’d go with the latter since I don’t see any need to hide their identities).

Sam unshielded his eyes and looked across the arena, expecting a full-blown argument between the two. However, Misty just rolled her eyes, than directed them towards Sam.

How well does Sam know the rapport between Misty and Daisy? I assume he just came in for a match and wouldn’t know either of them that well, therefore it seems a bit odd that he expected a fight just from that little comment.

‘That was a smart move kid, good to see that some trainers have tricks up their sleeves!’

This should be two sentences. Either the comma should be turned into a semi-colon or a period (if you turn it into a period, the g in “good” would, of course, need to be capitalized).

‘Ha ha, well, um, thanks.’ He replied sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head.

Again, should be: ‘Ha ha, well, um, thanks,’ he replied sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head.

This same error is made in multiple places in the chapter, so I won’t point it out again, but you should fix all instances of it.

‘While your Growlithe’s ability to swim is impressive, its lack of experience of battling underwater is a major disadvantage. Not only is Staryu a stronger swimmer, but it can also hear me while underwater. You’ve given me a great battle, but now it’s time to end this.’

It might help the text feel less free-floating (and add some action to it) if you showed what the characters were doing more often. Here, I’ll give you an example using this section of text (and correct a few errors):

‘While your Growlithe’s ability to swim is impressive,’ Misty began, her eyes shining with triumph, ‘its lack of experience in battling underwater is a major disadvantage. Not only is Staryu a stronger swimmer, but it can also hear me while underwater.” She shifted her weight warily from one leg to the other, readying to make her next move. ‘You’ve given me a great battle, but now it’s time to end this.’

Sam watched, scared, as a whirlpool formed in the depths of arena then violently erupted into a catastrophic underwater cyclone.

And now we’ve wandered into “show, don’t tell” territory. See, here you’ve flat out told us that Sam is scared, which is rather bland and doesn’t create an emotional investment. People connect much better to characters if they’re not simply told what a character is feeling all the time, but understand his emotions through clues in the text. Thus the reader is allowed to discover the emotion instead of having it handed to him or her matter-of-factly, and can actually, maybe experience the emotion with the character. In this case, instead of just saying that Sam was scared, you could give us a visual clue to his fright, such as saying his eyes widened or he stepped back.

Growlithe’s eyes narrowed and focussed on the wall.

Should be “focused.”

In front of him, Growlithe was lying there with swirls in its eyes.

I know that’s how it looks in the anime, but that’s rather comical-feeling for the more real-life needs of a written story.

You’re Growlithe was a standout

That should be “Your.”

Sam’s jaw-dropped.

There’s no need for the hyphen. Just a space between the two words would do the job.

She couldn’t help but laugh happily as well, but thought how much this kid reminded her of someone…

Ah, here’s the PokeShipping. I assume more’s on the way in the next chapter. It’s a decent way to kick off the subject of the ship as I’m sure a lot of trainers of the Ash ilk come Misty’s way and battling them could easily remind her of her erstwhile companion. The fact that I think Ash used a similar ploy of sending a fire Pokemon underwater (I think he did that at least. Hopefully my memory’s not too faulty) makes that connection even stronger.

I also like that you portrayed Misty as a strong and competent gym leader. Her calm, cool and collected battling, along with her cultivating of good traits in her challengers, shows that she’s not only improved as a trainer, but taken her position as gym leader seriously and become a mentor. I like that.

There are, however, numerous grammar and punctuation errors throughout this piece that are prominent enough to become pretty distracting (There’s even one in the title. “Swim Good” should be “Swim Well”). I’d suggest revising and brushing up on the rules of grammar and punctuation and looking up stuff if you aren’t sure about what convention is correct. What’s more, I think you could also refine your descriptions. You could add some where they are lacking (such as in establishing the setting and conveying the characters actions) and replace the more bland descriptions with ones that are more creative and unexpected.

I wish you all the best of luck as you revise this fic and move forward with it. It’s always nice to see new shipping writers here, particularly ones writing for classic pairs. Keep on, keepin’ on.

Thank you Skiyomi!
I knew there were a few problems with punctuation and grammar, and I was planning on fixing it all up on the w/e (depending on how busy I am). I do read through and edit my chapters before posting, I guess there were a few/many things I didn't pick up on, I also have a tendency to re-read and assume it sounds how it does in my head >.<

I know this technically isn’t part of the story, but don’t tell me that! It’s the kind of thing that turns off a lot of readers since they want to know that the story they’re reading is going somewhere and that the writer has a plan. So even if you don’t have everything planned out… might be a good idea to keep that a secret!

Sorry, I do have a good idea of where it's going, but I like to think it's not going to abruptly finish as soon as the big climax scene comes up; I want to continue on with the story after that (possible another adventure or something) but the thing is I don't know what that is yet, hence the 'don't know where it's headed'.

Reading through the rest of your pointers, I'm cranky at the fact I've made so many mistakes. I'm so paranoid about my grammar, spelling, punctuation etc etc. I know this sounds like I'm trying to push the blame away from myself, but word honestly does ask to correct things that don't need to be changed, like all the capitalised 'He's. I apologise to anyone who got put off from my story because of it.

I also apologise to a lack of description/show, not telling I honestly thought everyone reading this wouldn't appreciate and would get impatient with descriptions of Pokemon, but I decided to put in a simply description anyway, just in case.

When I get a chance, I will try and put in a better description on the location i.e. the Cerulean City Gym.
The reason for the lack of description on the character Sam's part is because I don't plan on featuring him in the story anymore, but when I go through the story properly, I'll fix that too.

The fact that Daisy is just mention matter-of-factly seems rather inconsistent with the fact that you’ve felt the need to be ambiguous about every other character in this (i.e. Sam being referred to as just “the trainer” from the start and Misty just being referred to as a “girl”). I think it’d be better to either be ambiguous about Daisy as well, or just name Sam and Misty from the start (I’d go with the latter since I don’t see any need to hide their identities).

Got that, but, I was just trying to 'build up' the presence of Misty, and the fact it's just another day for her (versing a novice trainer).

How well does Sam know the rapport between Misty and Daisy? I assume he just came in for a match and wouldn’t know either of them that well, therefore it seems a bit odd that he expected a fight just from that little comment.

Yeah I did exaggerate, Sam hardly knows these people, but you'd think an official Pokemon referee would keep their cool and not snap at the Gym Leader for something happening that wasn't in her complete control.

It might help the text feel less free-floating (and add some action to it) if you showed what the characters were doing more often. Here, I’ll give you an example using this section of text (and correct a few errors):

‘While your Growlithe’s ability to swim is impressive,’ Misty began, her eyes shining with triumph, ‘its lack of experience in battling underwater is a major disadvantage. Not only is Staryu a stronger swimmer, but it can also hear me while underwater.” She shifted her weight warily from one leg to the other, readying to make her next move. ‘You’ve given me a great battle, but now it’s time to end this.’

I didn't think of that, I thought by this stage, readers would get sick of me stop-starting conversations to add in stuff like that, thank you, that helps!

I get the feeling people are getting bored with my story because Pokeshipping isn't jumping out at them every second....the fact is, I like to set up the scene. Misty and Ash haven't seen each other for several years; I'm sure they aren't thinking about each other all the time (as a Pokeshipper I freely admit that). But there will be.

I admit writing the first chapter was the hardest for me, and I will go through all of it again and edit the hell of it. Thank you, your review was helpful and will make me a better writer because of it.

I hope (if you are in fact reading the story) enjoy it, and anymore more feedback on the other chapters is more than welcome!

Hi All!
Sorry for how long this chapter took, I've been mega busy. I hope you all enjoy it. Any feedback/comments are appreciated!

Chapter 9 – A Trip down Memory Lane:

While Misty, Tracey and Gary were getting off the ferry in Pummelo Island, Ash and Pikachu had just entered the borders of Pallet Town.

In front of them were lush, grassy hills that seemed to roll on forever, dark green trees and shrubbery, and a neat dirt track, guided by white picket fences; that would lead them back home. In the distance, Ash could see this track continue right up to the foot of the hill where Professor Oak’s laboratory sat upon. This happened to be the highest hill; overlooking the town like a watchful protector.

Ash was more than happy to be home; he hadn’t set foot in Pallet Town in years, but like every other time he came back home, he wouldn’t be staying for long. He didn’t think that relocating and retrieving his old pals; Lapras, Squirtle and Charizard, would have taken so long, and now he only had a few days to get to the Orange Islands and register.

Continuing down the path, Ash could no longer hide his excitement and began to run. With a gigantic grin on his face, Ash released his Squirtle and Charizard.

‘The last one to reach my house is a rotten Exeggcute!’ Ash called.

He then realised that it would be in fact him who would be the rotten one. With a few flaps of his wings, Charizard was there within seconds; now standing smugly just outside on the dirt road. Its foot was propped up on the Ketchum’s fence, with its arms folded, and had smoke puffing out of its nostrils.

The only true race was between Squirtle and Pikachu. Squirtle; who was used to this sort of thing due to its training with Squirtle Squad, had a slight lead over Pikachu. But it seemed Pikachu had acquired Ash’s competitiveness and eagerness to win, making the race a tie.

‘Wait up guys!’ Ash called out from further down the road, ‘I was only kidding.’ Ash stopped there for a moment, resting his hands on his thighs. He had done it. He had been reunited with his old Pokémon friends. All that was left to do now was get to Pummelo Island and win the All-Stars Orange League Championship.

‘Watch out everyone, with a team like mine; no one can win!’

Ash was interrupted by a loud shriek coming from further down the road. Ash’s head snapped up to see a woman; wearing a light crimson cardigan over a sun-yellow top, and a purple skirt that went past her knees.

‘Get off my fence right now you!’

‘Mime mime!’ the Mr. Mime standing beside her yelled out angrily. It was wearing a light green apron with yellow buttons, and was holding a broom in its hands. Ash started to jog towards his house, watching as Charizard snorted in amusement as it took its foot off the fence, lowered itself onto its side, and lay there triumphantly.

From the corner of her eye, the woman noticed a Squirtle and Pikachu standing behind the Charizard panting. Her dark brown eyes widened in realisation, than shot up to see her son, Ash, coming down the dirt road.

Mr. Mime, who still hadn’t noticed Ash, Pikachu or Squirtle, was not convinced all was well, and began to lift the broom over its head in a way similar to Lumberjack lifting an axe to chop wood.

‘Wait Mimey!’ the woman beckoned, reaching out to the Pokémon’s right arm; attempting to hold it back. But it was too late; Mr. Mime had too much momentum to stop now, and soon enough Mr. Mime was going to wish he should have stayed inside to do the vacuuming inside of the sweeping the dusty pathway.

Charizard’s eyes were closed, so it hadn’t realised the impending shock it was going to receive. Delia cringed away, not wanting to see the deadly hit on Charizard, but watched as Ash leapt in front of his Charizard; his arms extending above his hatless head.

WHACK!

Ash fell to the ground grimacing, and immediately rocked onto his knees and cradled his sides.

‘Oh sweetheart, are you okay?!’ Delia cried as she ran towards him; raising her arms out ready to embrace him in a hug.

Mr. Mime sighed in relief than resumed sweeping the pathway, chanting its name rhythmically.

Delia smiled fondly; happy to see both Mimey and Ash were okay.

‘It’s great to see you again honey. Oh! Where’s your hat?’ she wailed, pointing to his head.

‘Um, I’m lost it,’ Ash grumbled, ‘but it’s okay, I have plenty to choose from, now that I’m home!’

‘I’m surprised to see you here Ash, after not having heard from you in a few months.’

‘Yeah, sorry about that,’ Ash replied, scratching the back of his head, ‘I’ve been quite busy; there’s actually something I wanted to talk to you about.’

***

‘The All-Stars Orange League Championship?’ Delia asked, sipping her tea. Ash, Pikachu and his mother were now sitting in the living room, while Charizard and Squirtle rested outside.

‘Yeah. I need to use the Pokémon I had when I beat Drake in the Orange League all those years ago. It starts in a couple of days, so I was rushing around the place for the last few weeks trying to find my old team again. All I need now is my Bulbasaur and Tauros, so I’ll stop off there this afternoon, than be on my way to the Orange Archipelago!’

Delia nodded and continued to sip her tea.

‘Everything okay mum?’

‘Yeah sweetie, I just-I haven’t seen you in so long, I thought you’d be staying longer, not just for two hours.’ she replied solemnly.

‘Mum, I-I’m sorry, I should’ve visited and kept in contact with you a lot more than I did,’ Ash said taking her hand and squeezing it, ‘maybe you could come and watch me at the All-Stars Orange League Championship?’

Delia smiled slightly, ‘that sounds good Ash. Maybe I will.’

Ash beamed at her and stood up.

‘I guess I better get organised; my bag isn’t going to pack itself!’
‘Okay honey, if you need any help, let me know-oh! There should be clean underwear in your drawer; don’t forget to pack them!’

Pikachu giggled as Ash face-faulted on his way to the stairs.

‘Yeah mum I know.’ he moaned.

As he walked up the stairs, Ash peered back down to his mother and Pikachu; who were both still finishing their cups of tea.

‘It’s good to see you again Pikachu. You’re looking well.’ Delia proclaimed patting the yellow Pokémon’s head.

‘Cha!’

‘I know with you by Ash’s side; he’ll always be safe.’ she smiled.

‘Pikachu!’

Ash grinned to himself, ‘thanks mum. I’ve missed you so much. I promise I’ll do a better job of keeping in touch with you.’

After nudging his door so that it was only slightly open, Ash found that over the years; it had more or less remained the same. He still had his bunk bed; neatly made with a light green doona and a white fluffy pillow. Instead of another bed on the floor level, there was a wooden desk and a mini bookshelf filled with numerous books; all of which were about Pokémon. There was a dresser parallel to his bunk bed and on top of it sat a television and a radio; Ash wondered if they still worked. Next to the door on a small cupboard sat several items; two Soothe Bells, a Focus Band, the Twinleaf Tournament Trophy, The Pokémon Summer Academy diploma, the Squallville PokéRinger competition winners certificate and wooden Teddiursa model; given to him by his friend May.

On his desk were more memorabilia from his travels. There were all of the badges he had won in the Kanto, Johto, Orange, Hoenn, Sinnoh and Unova regions, and his Battle Frontier symbols; all shining with utter brilliance, his Orange League Trophy; a tiny golden statue with Pokéball on top, the pink rubber gloves he wore when he first got his Pikachu, and several photographs pinned to his board. The majority of them were vibrantly coloured and showed him with all the friends he had made over his journey, but one in particular. It was an older photo; made evident by the slight decolouration, and in it was himself, Pikachu, Brock and Misty.
‘This was the photo we got together before we went our separate ways.’ Ash thought glumly.

Ash was standing in the middle holding onto the gift Brock and Misty gave to him; a picnic box wrapped in a familiar pink handkerchief, Pikachu and Togepi were standing in front of him; the two pals had their arms wrapped around each other’s waist. Brock was standing next to Ash; his hand resting firmly on his shoulder, and Misty was standing on the other side of Ash; holding onto her bike. For the first time since he had had the photo, he noticed something peculiar about her. He had always known Misty to be a confident and assertive person, whose head was always level at the worst of times. But her eyes, her aquamarine eyes, seemed to show so much more. He could see she was tearing up, and struggling to stand tall; using her trusty bike as support.

Ash knew Misty didn’t want to leave, but he had always thought that she was more angry about it than upset.

‘Wow! Nurse Joy did a good job fixing it. That’s great! You finally got your bike back. Now you’ll get home fast!’

‘Whoop-de-doo.’

‘Why are you so grouchy?’

‘I’m not grouchy, why don’t you just leave me alone!’
‘Pika!’

‘Uh, Misty?’

‘That was weird. What’s wrong?’

‘I get the feeling that maybe she wanted to keep on travelling with us.’

‘Oh, really?’

Ash winced, ‘No wonder Misty was angry with me, she didn’t want to leave, and I practically told her to go.’

On the other side of the door, Delia was hunched over; spying on her son. She had gone up to give him a glass of water when she had seen him looking at a photo deep in thought. Delia peered through the crack; careful not to get caught and watched as his dark brown eyes flicker with a sudden realisation and guiltiness.

‘What’s wrong with him?’

He continued to stare at the photo with the same intensity of someone looking at a puzzling mathematical question. Just as Delia’s curiosity kicked in and decided it couldn’t handle watching him like this for much longer, he jerked out of his thoughts and sat the photo back down on his desk gently. Ash then turned around and headed over to his dresser and began pulling out clothes in a rushed fashion; something that seemed more to his character.

‘Everything okay sweetie?’ Delia asked with a hint of worry.

‘Yeah mum I just-I’m behind schedule!’

‘Well I brought you a glass of water,’ she replied quickly glancing at the photo on the table; smiling in realisation at which one it was, ‘if you need any help just let me-‘

‘Thanks mum. I, erh, just wanted to know where my hats were.’

‘Oh, why I put them in your cupboard there,’ she answered pointing towards the doorway.

‘Okay thanks mum!’ Ash called running over to the said cupboard.

Delia turned to walk out of the room when a hand grabbed her by the wrist. She glanced to the side to see Ash, now wearing the official Pokémon League Expo hat he had won by sending away millions of postcards many years ago, sitting comfortably on his head. It was red and white, with a dark green L-shaped sign on the front. At that moment Delia was struck with a sense of nostalgia, ‘It seems just like yesterday he left to pursue his dreams to become a Pokémon Master.’

She felt her eyes begin to water, but quickly blinked hoping her son hadn’t seen her.

‘Thank you mum for everything. I know I don’t keep in contact with you as much as you’d like; it is hard sometimes with all the travelling and battling,’

Delia nodded her head in understanding.

‘But that’s no excuse. I promise, from now on, I’ll call and come visit more often, I owe you that.’

‘Honey, it’s quite alright-‘

‘No mum, it’s fine really, because at the end of the day, I hope to make you proud.’

Delia smiled at her son and pulled him into a tight hug.

‘Oh Ash, I will always be proud of you no matter what.’

‘Thanks mum,’ Ash muffled into the shoulder of his mother, and pulled away, ‘now, I have to get packing!’

‘Okay sweetheart, give me a call if you need anything. Would you like me to send Pikachu up? I think he’s still on the lounge-‘

‘If he isn’t asleep then yeah; he deserves a good rest.’

Delia nodded and paced out the room. She couldn’t help but think about the photo her son was looking at moments before she had entered. She knew how hard it was on Ash to depart from his two best friends after travelling with them for so long.

Delia remembered how Ash told her about how Brock had to return home for some unknown reason, and that Misty had to go home to resume her position as Gym Leader because her sisters were going on some World Tour. Ash seemed so upset and lonely without them, and emphasised how much they both meant to him. But, one thing Ash brought up, made Delia wonder. Ash told her of Misty’s disappointment in finding out she had to leave. Apparently she had stormed out of the Pokémon Centre in quite a fury, leaving Ash in a state of confusion, but in spite of that, left Ash and Brock with her head high.

‘Misty said something to me today I didn’t quite understand.’
‘What was that sweetie?’

‘Well, it wasn’t what she said, really, but how she said it; it seemed like she wanted to say more, but couldn’t, and I don’t know why,’ Ash pondered, ‘she said: just keep on…doing your best.’

‘She’s just showing her support for you; words of wisdom!’ Delia had exclaimed happily.

But maybe Delia was wrong. She stopped outside the door, ‘maybe there was more to it,’ Delia thought, ‘but Ash wouldn’t understand. He has a heart of gold, and will do anything for anyone, but, I’m afraid he has a tendency to be a little dense,’ she sighed tiredly, ‘I suppose one day he’ll understand, and maybe so will I.’

Hi all!
Here's chapter 10 woooohooooo! I really liked writing this chapter so I hope everyone will enjoy it as well!
Also, a very big chapter is coming up....Misty's big secret is revealed!

Also, I've gone through and editted all my chapters, and I've added in more stuff to some, so go back and have a gander if you're interested!

Also, I'm aware 'Swim Good' isn't grammatically correct, it's just the name of a song I like and thought it would make a good title for this story

Feel free to review!

Chapter 10 – Oh that Gary!

Ash and his mother were now standing just outside the white picket fence Charizard’s foot had been resting on a few hours earlier. Pikachu sat snugly on Ash’s right shoulder, and the rest of his Pokémon were now in their Pokéballs; strapped onto Ash’s belt. He was wearing his familiar Pokémon League Expo hat, red high top sneakers with black shoelaces, green fingerless gloves, light blue pants, and a black t-shirt that sat underneath his yellow-trimmed, dark blue, white-sleeved jacket.

‘Do you have everything honey?’

‘Yeah mum, I just need Bulbasaur and Tauros now.’

Delia wrapped her arms around her son and hugged him tightly, ‘please be careful, but enjoy yourself! I hope I get to see you compete.’

‘I will mum! And please come, it’ll be good to have someone cheering for me.’

‘Everyone will be cheering for you sweetie!’ Delia gushed, grabbing he son’s shoulders and pulling him away excitedly.

‘Ha-ha, uh thanks mum,’ Ash chuckled scratching the back of his head, ‘well I best be going, take care.’

‘Bye sweetheart, see you later Pikachu-Oh did you pack clean underwear?!’

Ash sweat-dropped, ‘yeah mum, plenty.’

‘Well, you best be off! Say hello to the Professor for me.’ Delia beamed.

‘Huh, who could that be-Ash? I wasn’t expecting you till later in the week!’ Professor Oak cried out in surprise, as he opened the door.

‘Ha, yeah um, well, the League starts in a couple of days, so we really had to step on it.’ Ash replied.

‘Come in! Come in! How was your trip? I assume you found your Squirtle?’

‘It was good! Sure did! And Charizard too.’ Ash boasted.

‘That’s great-oh hello there Pikachu! I see Ash has been taking great care of you; your coat looks marvellous!’ Professor Oak exclaimed, as he reached out to pat the Pokémon nestled on Ash’s shoulder.

‘Pika!’

‘Sure have Professor and he keeps on getting stronger everyday!’

‘Pikapi!’

‘Ha-ha, I can’t disagree with you there,’ Professor Oak agreed, still examining Pikachu, ‘oh Ash, have you seen your mother yet? I hope you plan to before-‘

‘I was just there for the last two hours,’ Ash interrupted, waving his hands back and forth, ‘she might even come watch me compete in the All-Stars Orange League Championship. You should to Professor!’

‘That does sound like a good idea,’ acknowledged, ‘I’m not sure if I can get away for too long though, since Tracey isn’t here.’

‘Where’s Tracey? Is he okay?’ Ash beckoned, as he darted his head from side to side, trying to find his friend.

‘He’s fine,’ Professor Oak chuckled, ‘he has gone to do a research project with Gary.’

‘With Gary?’ Ash said perplexed, rocking side to side warily, ‘I didn’t think Tracey was that interested in researching, and I didn’t know Gary and Tracey were such good friends.’

‘Oh yes! Not only is Tracey a phenomenal sketcher, but he is becoming quite the researcher! You might say he has an eye for researching! Ha-ha!’ the Professor laughed to himself, while Ash sweat-dropped in embarrassment.

‘Yes, Gary and Tracey have been good friends for a while now Ash, they do spend time together researching Pokémon and collaborating their findings. I do believe those two would make a great researching team, hence the reason why I sent them to the Orange Islands to solve a Pokémon mystery!’

‘To the Orange Islands!’ Ash yelled as he nearly fell over in shock.

‘I guess I forgot to tell you,’ the Professor answered quietly, scratching the back of his head, ‘they left early this morning. Anyways, I suppose you want your Bulbasaur and Tauros now, I expect you’re in quite a hurry.’

‘Oh, um, yeah! That’s be great, thanks Professor.’ Ash stammered, still getting over what he had just heard, ‘Tracey and Gary are going to be in the Orange Islands too? That’s a coincidence. It’ll be good to see them; I haven’t spoken to them in a while.’

As Ash followed Professor Oak though the several rooms and labs, he couldn’t help but zone out and ponder to himself. Ash hadn’t realised that so much had changed in the last few years. Had he really kept out of contact for so long, not to realise Gary and Tracey were friends? What other things had he missed?

As they continuing walking through the house, Ash put his right hand in his front pocket only to find something in there.

‘What’s this?’

Ash pulled out the mystery item and stopped in his tracks; it was his half of the Pokéball which Gary and he had tied when they were younger. Ash had kept the white half, while Gary had kept the red half.

‘I remember this,’ Ash thought as he examined it with his fingers, ‘I must have left it in my pocket all those years ago.’

Gary and Ash had known each other since they were young children, and since then, their two very different personalities clashed, causing a bitter rivalry. What made it worse was that Gary’s wit and finesse always guaranteed that he was always one step ahead of Ash, fuelling the flame even more. Ash remembered how Gary had written ‘Gary was here! Ash is a loser!’ on a sign on the way to Cerulean City. How those seven little words had angered him!

On almost all occasions, Gary was further ahead, had more badges and Pokémon, and defeated Ash’s Pokémon with no sweat. It made Ash feel petty and weak, even though he knew he was doing well for someone his age.

But things had changed at the Silver Conference.

After beating Macy and tying with Jackson, Ash discovered that not only would he be progressing to the first round of the Victory Tournament, but his first match would be against Gary! He remembered how Gary appeared out of nowhere and started laying into him.

‘Not so fast! There’s no way I’m losing to you Gary!’ Ash yelled.

‘Pika pika!’ Pikachu agreed assertively.

‘Huh, here he goes again; losing his temper.’ Misty sighed.

‘Yeah, there’s nothing worse when competing in a major tournament, than not being able to keep your cool.’ Brock stated.

‘Toge.’ Togepi agreed.

‘Hey Ash, remember this?’ Gary asked, revealing the red half of a Pokéball in his open palm, the white half missing.

‘Awww!’ Ash gasped.

‘Yeah, that’s right.’ Gary smirked raising his hand higher.

‘Of course I remember that; the Pokéball you and I tied!’ Ash stated proudly.

‘Pika?’

‘He kept a Pokéball from when they tied?’ Misty asked.

‘Toge?’

‘Wrong! I consider that one a loss!’ Gary grimaced.

‘Why would you say something like-‘Ash began to ask.

‘As far as I’m concerned, tying with you is a loss Ash.’ Gary interrupted.

Ash grumbled.

‘The final tournament is going to be six on six battling. That means one thing; you will be toast!’

‘I wouldn’t be so sure about that one Gary!’

‘Pikachu!’

‘Hmm-hmm-hmmm-hmmmm,’ Gary chuckled, ‘see ya at the demolition.’

Ash recalled running back to their room, Misty Brock and Pikachu following close behind, and digging frantically through his belongings. He found what he was looking for; the white half of the Pokéball that connected to Gary’s red half. He told his friends that it was the first Pokéball he had ever had, and that he had kept it as a good luck charm. He also stated that the reason he lost to Gary the first time was because he wasn’t ready, but now, he was, and was looking forward to the rematch. Misty and Brock emphasised their support and their eagerness to see Ash compete in the Victory Tournament and as it turned out, Ash won against Gary, for the first time.

Ash was stunned, ‘I won, and I beat Gary.’

‘Hm.’ Gary replied, and walked out of the stadium showing no emotion what so ever.

He was snapped out of his paralysis by Pikachu and his friends; who had come over to congratulate him, and at that moment couldn’t contain his happiness.

But still, he needed to see to Gary, he needed to talk to his old rival.

Later that night, Ash and Pikachu went to meet Gary besides the lakeside; where they had ran into Gary a few days before, and once again found him, staring out into the lake; a distant look in his dark eyes.
‘Gary?’

‘Huh? Hey Ash, thanks for coming to see me.’

‘No problem. So what’s up Gary?’

Ash watched as Gary reached into his back pocket and pulled out something.

‘This.’ Gary replied revealing his half of the Pokéball in the palm of his hand.

‘Huh?’

‘Here, take it.’

‘But-‘

‘It belongs to you; you earned it! Really I mean it’

‘Thanks.’

‘That battle today of ours was awesome, I don’t even feel bad that I lost,’ Gary said as he peered up to the sky, ‘you see Ash, when we tied long ago I felt like a failure. But today, you totally beat me fair and square, get it?’

‘I guess?’Ash replied sheepishly, ‘you know, I feel like I got a whole lot stronger by battling with you today.’

But Ash lost to Harrison, and was eliminated from the tournament. But that wasn’t the only thing he lost, a few days later, Misty and Brock left; leaving him all alone. But, on arrival at Professor Oak’s lab, he found out that Gary had left all his Pokémon with his grandfather and was off already on a new adventure. Curious, Ash ran after and caught up to Gary, who explained that he wanted to make a fresh start, so he needed to keep on moving. Ash admitted to Gary that he didn’t know what he was to do now, but, Gary; his newfound friend, who had also recently decided to become a Pokémon researcher like his grandfather, told him to stay at home for a bit so he could think about his next move. Gary bid Ash farewell, but before he could leave, Ash gave him the red half of the Pokéball, which Gary had given him a few days before.

Inspired and empowered by Gary, Ash decided to do the same thing, and left for the Hoenn region.

He only saw Gary a few more times throughout his journey, and now it seemed they would be seeing each again soon. Ash was glad, but at the same time, he had reservations. He had come to respect and admire Gary; he could now call him his friend, but there was still a bit of a rivalry hidden beneath the surface, and they hadn’t seen each other in years, had he changed much?

‘Everything alright there Ash?’

‘Um, yeah Professor.’ Ash said as he coughed, trying to rid himself of his dry throat.

‘What do you have there?’

‘Just a lucky charm.’ Ash whispered as he tucked his half of the Pokéball in his pocket.

‘Ah,’ Professor Oak said in realisation, ‘well, let’s not delay any longer!’

Hi all!
Sorry it took so long, but here it is, chapter 11!
Also, only a few more chapters till we find out what Misty's big secret is!

themaskedmermaidofthemist: thank you! Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 11 – Old Friends, a New Adventure:

‘Bulbasaur! It’s so good to see you!’ Ash proclaimed happily, as he crouched down to meet his old friend.

‘Bulba!’ Bulbasaur cried as it leapt into Ash’s arms. Bulbasaur was a blue-green coloured grass type Pokémon, with bright red eyes. Unlike other Bulbasaurs, Ash’s stood a little higher from the ground, and the bulb on its back was bigger.

‘Pikapi!’ Pikachu remarked as it joined them; patting Bulbasaur’s bulb.

‘Bulbasaur has missed you a lot Ash, but it has done a good job settling territorial disputes between the Pokémon in the lab, I certainly hope nothing goes wrong while it’s gone!’ the Professor pointed out.

‘Oh, I didn’t think about that.’ Ash stammered, sweat-dropping.

‘Oh I think it should be okay, the Pokémon you sent here a few weeks ago are keeping the other Pokémon entertained, I just hope it lasts!’ Professor Oak chuckled.

‘That’s good to hear,’ Ash turned to Bulbasaur and smiled fondly, ‘you ready to win Bulbasaur?’

‘Bulba! Bulbasaur!’ Bulbasaur cried with determination and sent one of its vines out slowly towards Ash.

‘Ha-ha, we can do it!’ Ash agreed shaking Bulbasaur’s vine fervently.

‘I have no doubt you and your Pokémon will win Ash,’ Professor Oak added, ‘but, it’ll be hard to win if you’re not there, you better go get your Tauros and be on your way.’

‘Ah! You’re right! Is Tauros out in the fields?’

‘Yes, right this way.’

Ash once again followed the Professor, but this time it was through a glass door leading outside to the Oak Corral. Before them were grassy green fields that rolled into sweeping hills, several pristine ponds and tall Oak trees; flocked with bird Pokémon, and in the distance, large groups of various Pokémon could be seen resting, eating or roaming in the fields. One of these groups was the Tauros herd, who were all grazing under the shade of trees.

‘Tauros! Tauros!’ Ash began to call, waving his arms back and forth rapidly, ‘it’s Ash. Are you there?’

Some startled Pidgeys and Spearows nearby; who were poking at the ground with their beaks took to the trees, while some of the Weedles and Caterpies scampered into the dark green bushes.

Professor Oak, Pikachu and Bulbasaur sweat-dropped as they watched the now shrieking Ash scaring off more and more Pokémon, except one.

In the valley below, a cloud of brown dust had formed and was making its way towards them at an alarming speed. The ground beneath them rumbled fiercely, causing Professor Oak, Pikachu and Bulbasaur to step back and to the side hesitantly. But Ash stood there, tall, his brown eyes never leaving the cloud of dust.

‘Ash, I think you should move out the way! Once a Tauros begins to charge they cannot stop!’ Professor Oak called out worriedly.

‘Tauros will stop Professor, you’ll see.’ Ash replied quietly.

The Professor glanced nervously at Pikachu, only to see the yellow rodent sigh a puff of relief and unstiffen slightly. Bulbasaur on the other had started to edge closer to Ash, just in case he needed protecting. Professor Oak once again diverted his eyes back to Tauros, who had now reached the top of the hill they were standing on. But, to his surprise it had slowed down significantly. The bovine Pokémon, who could now be seen through the dust, was now trotting towards Ash happily, mooing appreciatively and was swiftly whipping its three long black tails from side to side.

‘Tauros! It’s good to see you buddy!’ Ash called, meeting the Pokémon half way and hugging its head.

‘Moooooooo!’

Tauros was one of the thirty Tauros Ash had caught in the Safari Zone years ago. It was a muscular, brown cow Pokémon, with a dark brown mane around its neck. Atop of its head were its horns, and on its head were three silver studs that shone brightly in the sun.

‘For a second there I didn’t think Tauros was going to stop,’ Professor Oak chuckled nervously, approaching Ash and Tauros, with Bulbasaur and Pikachu following closely behind, ‘I suppose you’ll be on your way now that you have all your Pokémon.’

‘Yeah, I need to get going!’ Ash cried jumping back in shock.

‘Do you have a ticket for the Vermillion ferry service?’

‘Um, yeah, I brought it before I arrived in Pallet Town.’

‘Smart thinking there Ash! What time does it leave?’

‘7pm tonight; I have plenty of time! But I need to make a couple of stops first.’

‘Well I best give you Bulbasaur’s and Tauros’ Pokéballs!’ Professor exclaimed reaching into the front pocket of his white laboratory coat, and pulling out two small, red and white balls.

Ash gratefully took the Pokéball from the Professor and turned around to face Pikachu, Bulbasaur and Tauros.

‘You guys ready?’

‘Pikapi!’

‘Bulba!’

‘Moooooooo!’

‘Alright, let’s go!’

***

An hour later, Ash was on the road again, his buddy Pikachu sitting proudly on his right shoulder. With Charizard, Lapras, Bulbasaur, Squirtle and Tauros now in their Pokéballs, all that was left to do now was get to the Orange Islands!

But, there was something else Ash wanted to do before he set sail in Vermillion City.

To be specific, there were two people he had to see; Misty and Brock.

It had been far too long since he had last seen or spoken to them, and now it was his turn to make the effort.

‘What do you think Pikachu? Do you reckon Misty and Brock would want to come with us?’ Ash asked cheerfully.

‘Pikachu!’

Ash laughed and rubbed Pikachu’s head fondly, ‘it shouldn’t be too long to Pewter City now. I hope Brock is around.’

‘Pikapi!’ Pikachu agreed.

Ash’s brows furrowed, ‘who am I kidding? Brock and Misty are probably way to busy with their Gyms, and Brock is busying studying as well.’

He stopped and peered ahead. In the distance, the rocky landscape of Pewter City could be seen, and in a few more steps he would be standing in the very same place he stood all those years ago when he had met Flint; Brock’s father.

‘Oh well, it’ll be good to see them!’ he thought optimistically, and began to run.

***

‘Just a minute!’ a deep voice called from within, no doubt Brock’s.

Ash and Pikachu were now standing out the front of the Pewter City Gym. Ash had just rung the doorbell, and was rocking impatiently from side to side.

They could hear heavy footsteps thumping about within the Gym, and with each step, it seemed as though Brock was fast approaching.

‘If you want a Gym Battle I’m afraid we’re closed-‘

‘I already have a Boulder Badge, Brocko.’

‘Brocko?-Ash! What are you doing here?’ Brock stammered.

‘I’m here to see you Brock! How are you?’ Ash replied extending his arm out to shake Brock’s hand.

Instead of shaking Ash’s hand, Brock pulled him into a hug, and patted his back heartedly, ‘Well I’m glad to see you; it’s been a while!’

‘Yeah, it has,’ Ash chuckled as he gave Brock a pat on the back and pulled away, ‘how’s the studying going? Are you a Pokémon Doctor yet?’

‘No, still a long way to go yet, but I’m on a two month break now, so I’m pretty happy about that.’ Brock grinned, motioning Ash inside.

‘Oh yeah, you mentioned that in your last email.’ Ash commented, scratching the back of his head.

‘Pikachu! It’s good to see you too buddy! Has Ash been taking care of you?’

‘Pikapi!’

‘He’s missed you Brock, and your cooking.’ Ash smirked as he stepped inside.

‘Well in that case, I better give you some of my new Pokémon food! I’ve been working on it for months; but now, it’s finally perfected! I made some especially for you Pikachu, it should give you all the energy you need for battle.’ Brock boasted as he closed the door behind Ash.

Ash laughed, ‘that’d be great Brock. So why is the Gym closed?’

‘The Kanto League starts next week, you should know that Ash.’ Brock pointed out as he began walking around the Pewter City Gym’s battle arena, which was jagged with great big rocks and boulders. Dirt and gravel was spread across the floor, and ahead of Ash and Brock was a stony wall that reached to the ceiling. In front of this wall, in the shadows, was a stone pedestal, where Brock had been sitting the day they had met for the first time.

Brock paused and turned to Ash, ‘then where have you been?’ Brock asked, a hint of anger in his voice, ‘the last time I heard from you was via an email; and that was two months ago! You didn’t even reply to my other one. Misty and I have been worried sick, we had no idea where you were or what you were doing.’

‘You guys were worried about me?’

‘Of course we were! We are your best friends! We hadn’t heard from you in two months, it was only natural for us to be concerned.’

‘I’m sorry Brock, I-I should’ve kept in touch, but something came up and it was urgent.’

‘Don’t apologise Ash, it just wouldn’t hurt for you to give us a call or send us and email every week or so, we miss you that’s all. So, what has come up?’

***
Brock smiled, ‘The All-Stars Orange League Championship…I’m surprised I haven’t heard about this. I knew there was going to be a tournament in the Orange Archipelago, but I thought it was just another trainer challenging Drake.’

Ash and Brock were now standing in Brock’s kitchen, sipping water, while Pikachu sat quietly on the carpet eating Brock’s new Pokémon food.

‘In two days huh? What are you still doing in Kanto? You should be there.’

‘Yeah, but I-I thought maybe you’d like to join me, and Misty too.’

Brock flinched, ‘you want us to come with you? Why?’

Ash shifted uncomfortably on the spot, ‘well I thought-I-I really miss you guys, I haven’t spoken, seen or travelled with either of you in such a long time, I thought that maybe it was time for the old team to get back together again; and I just don’t mean my Pokémon. You and Misty were the first friends I made on my Pokémon journey, and you’ve both supported me through thick and thin. When the three of us went our separate ways, I didn’t know what I was going to do, or how far I would get because you and Misty were always there to help me.’

Brock rested his index finger and his thumb below his chin and went quiet.

‘But I understand if you can’t; you do have a Gym to look after, and you’re studying.’ Ash interjected, waving his hands back and forth frantically.

‘Well Ash, I don’t think I could say no to that.’

‘Huh?’ Ash gulped.

‘Misty and I have missed you terribly, and I think travelling again will do us all wonders. It’s also been a long time since we’ve seen you battle; it’d be good to see how much you’ve improved and what we can help you with.’ Brock winked.

Ash sweat-dropped but also sighed in relief, ‘you really mean it Brock? You sure you can leave the Gym? And don’t you need to study?’

Brock chuckled, ‘It’s fine Ash! Mum, Dad or Forrest can look after the Gym, and I do have two months off! It shouldn’t take you that long to win, should it?’

Ash laughed, but then went silent, ‘Brock…you don’t know how much this means to me, thank you.’ Ash raised his arm and held out his hand.

‘Me too Ash.’ Brock replied as he grasped Ash’s hand, and held it tight.

Hi all!
So I felt bad that I took so long before to post a chapter, so here's chapter 12!
Big shock at the end hehe >.<
Hope everyone enjoys it; reviews please!

Chapter 12 – Reunions:

‘Renovations? Why does Misty want to renovate the Gym for; it looks fine to me.’

Ash, Brock and Pikachu were now on their way to Cerulean City to visit their good friend Misty. It had been nearly an hour since they had departed from Brock’s home in Pewter City, and Ash couldn’t believe the progress they were making.

‘Well, it needed it,’ Brock began, peering to Ash; who was now only a few inches shorter than him, ‘plus the Gym has such a good reputation now, it’s about time it had the upgrade it deserved. And Misty deserves it too, even though it’s coming out of her pocket.’

‘I thought the league paid for all that stuff?’ Ash asked.

‘They do fund some things…but not everything. Misty has worked extremely hard over the years to make the Gym a better place; she even opened up another pool to host underwater shows and swimming lessons!’

‘Wow, I had no idea Misty had done all that.’ Ash murmured frowning, but at the same time, his heart swelled with pride for his best friend.

‘Oh yeah, and you should see what’s planned; a bigger pool – that can accommodate underwater battles, brand new aquariums underneath the Gym for all the water Pokémon that live at the Gym, a refurbished upstairs living area and reception; I can’t wait to see it when it’s finished!’ Brock roared happily.

Like Misty, Brock was Ash’s oldest friend. He had been there when Ash had first set out to become a Pokémon Master; in fact, he was the first Gym Leader he had challenged!

Brock had short, brown, spiky hair and had a darker complexion compared to Ash. He wore tan pants, dark blue and white sneakers, a light green t-shirt, and an orange and grey hooded-vest.

Not only was Brock an established Gym Leader who was studying to become a Pokémon doctor, but a talented Pokémon Breeder and a proficient cook, cleaner and navigator. But above all these things, Brock was an amazing friend.

‘Yeah-I-I was just thinking about how good it’ll be to have the old gang back again!’ Ash replied honestly, clenching his fist in determination.

‘I wouldn’t get your hopes up too high Ash.’

‘Why not?’

‘There’s chance Misty will say no; she has to look after the Gym.’

‘But the League is about to start, and that goes for a month; she’ll have time then, won’t she?’

‘I don’t know Ash; she might have to supervise renovations.’

‘Can’t her sisters do that?’

‘You know what they’re like, Daisy might, I’m not entirely sure about Violet and Lily; their responsibility is nowhere near as amazing as their good looks.’ Brock claimed, a mischievous grin forming on his face.

Ash and Pikachu sweat-dropped.

‘I suppose…guess we’ll find out soon.’ Ash mumbled.

***

‘Pikapi!’

‘There it is Brock!’ Ash called out.

Further down the road was the Cerulean City Gym; however all around it were trucks, bulldozers, and even a crane!

‘She’s probably in her sister’s flat!’ Brock yelled over the deafening mechanical noise, while pointing to a small house attached to the back of the Gym.

‘I didn’t know the Gym had a flat!’ Ash yelled back.

‘Yeah, that’s where Misty’s sisters live! Misty still lives in the Gym above the reception!’

‘Chu.’ Pikachu moaned as it blocked its long yellow ears with its hands.

‘Sorry Pikachu. Don’t worry! We’ll see Misty soon, and hopefully it won’t take long for us to convince her to come with us!’

Brock glanced at Ash, ‘Ash, don’t-‘

‘I know, I know, but there’s no harm in trying.’ Ash said assertively as he diverted his eyes to the ground.

Brock looked back towards the Gym and sighed, ‘I know he hasn’t kept in contact, but please Misty, consider coming with us; for Ash’s sake.’

‘I was planning on making a trip to see Misty soon anyway,’ Brock announced, trying to break the ice, ‘we try to catch up at least once a month, at each other’s respective Gyms, it’s mine turn this-‘

‘Lily like what are you doing!’ a shrill voiced cried.

Ash and Brock flinched; was that Misty’s voice?

‘Calm down sis, I’m just re-packing some things!’

‘Misty and I have already done that,’ the voice answered back angrily, ‘you could do the other stuff I told you to do; like take the rest of the Pokémon to the Pokémon Centre and send them to Professor Oak’s lab!’

Ash and Brock hurried around the corner to see a flustered Daisy towering over Lily; who was sitting on the grass going through some cardboard boxes.

‘Like why can’t we use our transporter?’ Lily moaned as she stood up, placing her hands on her hips.

‘I’ve like told you a million times; we had to disassemble it last week! We have to use the transporter at the Pokémon Centre.’

‘Erhhhhh,’ Lily groaned, as she slumped over to start packing up the boxes, ‘but I can’t be bothered to walk to the Pokémon Centre!’

‘I’m sure Violet will go with you-’ Daisy began, but looked up to see Ash, Brock and Pikachu looking at the two sisters, sweat-dropping.
‘What’s Ash doing here?’ Daisy thought worriedly, ‘surely he isn’t here to ask Misty if-‘

‘Hi girls!’ Brock gushed as he frolicked over to them, ‘have you done something to your hair; it looks amazing! Is that a new perfume? A new outfit?-owwwwww!’

‘Normally Misty would do this, but since she isn’t like here…’ Violet groaned as she yanked Brock’s ear and dragged him away from Daisy and Lily.

‘What do you mean she isn’t here?’ Ash asked, confused.

‘Pika?’ Pikachu added.

Lily turned to Daisy, ‘we’ll let you explain sis, we’ve gotta run an errand,’ Lily smirked as she winked at Daisy, ‘the Pokéballs are still in the lounge room right?’

‘Yeah.’ Daisy grumbled, wrinkling her nose.

Ash, Brock and Pikachu watched as Violet and Lily scurried inside, than remerged seconds later, each with a container in their arms.

‘Bye guys!’ Violet and Lily called out as they hurried off around the corner, giggling incessantly.

‘Are you sure everything is alright Daisy?’ Ash asked, as he picked up a box.

‘Yeah, she’s fine.’ Daisy replied, sounding distant.

Ash looked at Daisy; expecting her to add something further, but she said nothing. He sighed and followed her into the flat.

After a few minutes, Ash, Brock and Pikachu sat down in the lounge room, staring at Daisy in anticipation. Daisy sighed as she flopped down on the adjacent arm chair.

‘Well?’ Ash pressed, edging closer to her.

‘Misty isn’t here, because she-she has gone with Gary and Tracey.’

‘WITH GARY!’ Ash beckoned as he stood up in surprise, ‘why would she want to go with him for?!’

Brock and Pikachu jumped in surprise, and Daisy let out a little shriek.

‘Easy Ash,’ Brock croaked as he pulled Ash back down to the lounge, ‘but Daisy why would Misty want to go with Gary? I didn’t know they were friends?’ he asked, intrigued.

‘Well, last week, I think, Gary and Tracey showed up on our front step; soaked to the bone! Misty let them in and offered them a place to like stay for the night.’ Daisy paused and looked to Ash, who was staring at the coffee table in front of him. He seemed to have calmed down, but at the same time he looked terribly confused, and, perhaps jealous?

A smile formed on Daisy’s lips, ‘Anyways, the reason why Gary and Tracey were travelling in the storm, was because Professor Oak told them about some little project; so they needed to come back to Pallet Town to discuss it right away.’

‘What does this have to do with Misty?’ Brock asked perplexed.

‘Well, Gary invited her to go with them on their little research project. Misty was a little shocked - like why would Gary invite her to go? But, she pretty much refused right away because she just couldn’t just leave the Gym, especially with renovations due to start in a few days! But, after some consideration she decided to go; both Gary and Tracey did emphasise that it was her dream to become a Water Pokémon Master, not to be a Gym Leader, and there was no way she could achieve that by staying here. I suppose that was enough to convince her.’

‘Pummelo Island! That’s in the Orange Archipelago! That’s where we’re going Brock!’ Ash yelled out excitedly as he stood up.

‘Yeah, that’s lucky, and she only left this afternoon; she shouldn’t be hard to find.’ Brock pointed out.

‘She was running late this morning,’ Daisy added as she stood up too, ‘but I have no doubt she made it safe and sound. But I-never mind.’

‘What Daisy?’ Brock asked as he got up.

‘I-I can’t help but feel a little guilty,’ Daisy moaned, as she brought her hand to her cheek, ‘I know I said that Misty make the decision to go, all by herself, but to be honest, I think it was something I said.’

‘What did you say?’ Ash asked.

‘Pikapi?’

‘I said: you can’t wait around forever for Ash, and Brock, to come back; begging you to go on a brand new journey. Guess I was wrong, that’s why you’re both here isn’t it?’

Ash and Brock nodded.

‘Oh I feel so bad!’ Daisy cried, ‘she thinks the world of you two; and I like threw it in her face.’

‘Don’t feel bad Daisy,’ Ash said, ‘I feel guilty too. I’ve barely kept in contact with Misty over the last few years, even though I swore to her I would. But now is my chance to make things right…I hope.’

Daisy looked to Ash and smiled, ‘thank you Ash. And thanks both of you for bringing in all the boxes.’

‘It was nothing!’ Brock declared, ‘but Ash we ought to get going! It’s 3.30pm, and we gotta get there by 7pm!’

‘Ahhhh, you’re right! We gotta go! Ash bellowed as he ran for the door, ‘thanks for your help Daisy. Let’s go Pikachu!’

‘Pikapi!’ Pikachu cried as he bounded out the door after his master.

‘See ya Daisy; say goodbye to Violet and Lily for me!’ Brock called out as too ran out of the flat.

Daisy sighed, ‘Well, Misty’s going to get a surprise.’ as she went to the door and closed it behind them.

*** Later that day…

Misty couldn’t have asked for a better day. After they had docked, Gary, Tracey and Misty decided that today would be their designated ‘rest day’ before beginning their research project. They had spent the last few hours sight-seeing around Pummelo Island, and decided to visit the Palace of Victory. This was where the trainers who had beaten the Orange League Head Leader were celebrated with photos and displays of the trainer’s handprint and the Pokémon’s footprint. Ash was one of these trainers, and Gary couldn’t get over how much Misty and Tracey boasted about it.

‘Well if I were here, Ashy-boy wouldn’t have stood a chance!’ Gary smirked.

The trio than decided to walk around the island, they visited street-side markets, watched Pokémon battles on the beach and ate a lot of delicious food. But, the highlight of the day was discovering that in a few days time, Pummelo Island would be hosting the All-Stars Orange League Championship!
‘Check this out guys.’ Tracey had exclaimed, pointing to a large, orange-coloured poster; decorated with drawings of Pummelo Island, the four Orange Archipelago badges, the Orange League trophy, and some Pokéballs.

‘The All-Stars Orange League Championship…inviting all those who’ve beaten the Orange League Head Leader to come together for one big battling tournament…for the prestigious title of Orange League Pokémon Master…’ Gary read.

‘That means-‘Tracey started.

‘Ash is competing.’ Misty finished.

‘Wow, what an honour. Ash is privileged to be competing in such a tournament!’ Gary proclaimed.

‘Yeah! We’ll have to come watch him battle. What do you think Gary?’ Tracey asked excitedly.

‘I don’t see why not; when we aren’t working of course.’ Gary replied coolly.

It was currently 8.00pm. Gary, Tracey and Misty had decided to stay at a Pokémon Centre, leaving their Pokémon with Nurse Joy for the night. They were having dinner; which consisted of cheese burgers, chips and milkshakes.

‘Enjoy tonight, because over the next few weeks, we’ll be roughing it out.’ Gary said, taking a sip of his vanilla milkshake.

‘I was thinking of heading to Valencia Island to chat with Professor Ivy. She was the one who told Gramps about the irregular migratory patterns of the Pokémon in the first place.’ Gary answered.
‘Lucky Brock isn’t here.’ Misty thought.

‘So, does that mean we’re getting up early?’ Tracey questioned, eating his last chip.

‘Then it’s settled,’ Gary announced, ‘tomorrow we head for Valencia Island. How does a 6.30am start sound?’

Misty and Tracey groaned.

‘Ha-ha. Well in that case, I think it’s time for bed; it’s been a big day.’ Gary advised, as he stood up and grabbed his rubbish.

‘Good idea,’ Tracey said and reciprocated Gary, ‘you coming Misty?’

‘I’m just going to check my emails,’ she replied, getting up as well, ‘I won’t be long, you guys go up.’

‘Knock three times.’ Tracey said as he turned around.

‘Sure thing.’ Misty smiled.

‘See you soon Red.’ Gary smirked.

Misty shot him a deadly glare before turning around to head for the computers.

‘If he calls me Red one more time, I’ll have Gyarados aim a hydro pump at him.’ she thought as she sat down at a computer and clicked the icon that had the Pidgey with the letter in its mouth.

There weren’t any emails in Misty’s inbox, but that didn’t concern her. Looking around anxiously, Misty opened up a new email and typed in an address quickly, than clicked further down onto a separate box; so she could begin to write.

Misty clicked send without a moment’s hesitation and sat silently; waiting for a reply.

***

Ten minutes later, a beep sounded, snapping Misty out of her trance:
Meeting confirmed. ‘S’ will be expecting you outside the Pummelo Stadium at 10.30pm. Do not be late.

Misty unconsciously nodded, and quickly closed the computer and hurried to her room, not daring to look back in case she saw someone she knew, someone who had witnessed what she had just done; someone like Ash.

‘They wouldn’t know what I was just doing,’ Misty reasoned to herself as she ran into corridor where her room was, ‘but then again, they’re going to find out soon enough.’

She reefed the door open, causing Gary and Tracey to jump in surprise.

‘Us too,’ Gary agreed, ‘night Red.’ he said as he climbed onto the top of the bunk bed.

‘Goodnight Misty.’ Tracey yawned as he slumped into the bed below Gary’s.

Misty turned off the light, kicked off her shoes, than slithered into the bottom bed in the adjacent bunk; where she pretended to sleep.

***

Misty crept out of bed at 10.20pm. Walking on her toes, Misty grabbed her shoes and tip-toed over to the door; leaving the noisy snores of Gary and Tracey. After she closed the door, Misty sat down to put her shoes on, than slinked her way through the dark corridors of the Pokémon Centre. She walked past the reception, eyeing the sleeping Chansey with caution, until she reached the door. Luckily enough, the automatic door opened, and without a second thought, Misty ran off into the direction of the Pummelo Stadium.

***
It was a good nine minute run; the hill leading up to the Pummelo Stadium did not help at all. The Pummelo Stadium towered over Misty, casting a velvet black shadow over her. Misty began to stroll around the Stadium, walking steadily over the cobblestones.

‘Get a grip Misty,’ she hissed to herself, ‘you can’t show her, or them, that you’re weak; not after everything you’ve been through.’

Suddenly, Misty kicked a loose pebble, making an unnerving and eerily loud noise.

‘It’s about time you showed up; you’re two minutes late.’ a woman’s voice sneered from the shadows.

‘I’m right on time.’ Misty answered back, trying to keep her voice steady.

Misty gulped, ‘can we cut to the chase, and I’m here now. Hiding in the shadows is rude you know. Show yourself.’

‘Very well.’

From the shadows, a tall woman emerged. Her eyes were a dark and penetrating red. Her long, frizzy crimson hair fell below her shoulders, and was held back by a light blue bandana; with a white skull-shaped logo on the front. She wore light blue gloves, a black midriff underneath a blue vest, and matching blue pants with red circles running down the side on each leg.

Hi all!
So here's chapter 13!
I hope (if anyone is still reading it) that you're enjoying it, and all comments are welcome! (but please, no flaming >.<)

Chapter 13: A Change in Heart:

Approximately 3 years ago…

‘6.00pm…right on schedule,’ Misty said to herself as she examined her watch, ‘I just hope this place isn’t too hard to find.’

It was an overcast evening along the coast of Lilycove City; and it was getting darker by the minute. Misty was standing on top of a headland; staring out towards the sea. In the distance, high pitched Wingull squawks could be heard, as well as the subtle crashing of the waves against the rocks.

‘Looks like it’s going to storm,’ Misty thought to herself worriedly, ‘don’t chicken out now; this is nothing you can’t handle, now let’s get a move on!’

Nodding to herself, Misty quickly glanced over her shoulder. Satisfied no one was watching, she proceeded to climb down the rocky headland. When she was a metre from the ground; she let go, and with perfect finesse, landed steadily on the uneven rocky surface.

After dusting her hands, Misty yanked her red backpack off her shoulders; pulling a black and light blue scuba outfit out from inside the bag. Instead of her normal attire, Misty wore a blue t-shirt; with red strips down the sides, black shorts and grey aqua socks. She decided to keep her clothes on underneath her scuba suit, than put it on; zipping up the back as quickly as she could.

Misty than crouched over and fished out a smaller, waterproof, black backpack from her red one, and slang it over her shoulders. She then grabbed a red underwater mouthpiece (which she normally wore when she performed in underwater shows) and placed it gently on the ground.

After hiding her red bag among the rocks, Misty got up, clutching her red mouthpiece in her right hand, and began walking across the rock pools; towards the ocean.
‘Are you sure you want to do this?’ she thought hesitantly to herself, as she reached the edge.

‘Yes, you must and you will.’ she breathed aloud.

Inching forward a little more, she shoved the mouthpiece into her mouth and slipped into the watery abyss.

***

Misty prided herself on being a strong swimmer; but this swim was proving to be a difficult one. Not only were the underwater currents tossing her around senselessly like a rag doll, but the temperatures were rapidly dropping because of the impeding storm.

Misty had calculated beforehand that if she swam in a north-easterly direction, she would reach her target in a matter of minutes, but so far it taken her nearly fifteen minutes; due to the fact the current had swept her further east than she would’ve liked.

‘I should’ve brought Starmie,’ Misty thought, as she pulled herself back towards the right direction, ‘no, don’t say that! You’ve already gone through this; you’d be putting all your Pokémon in great danger if you would’ve brought them with you today.’

And it wasn’t. Five minutes ahead laid a dark shape, with a tiny light shining through its middle. It was a humongous seafloor cavern; Team Aqua’s underwater hideout.

Feeling a jolt of relief, Misty kicked even harder, and pulled herself along the sides of the trench with her hands, the water skimming quickly along her body as she quickly approached Team Aqua’s hideout.

‘Finally!’ she sighed as she swam into the entrance, and gripped the edge of the cave to guide herself along the underwater tunnel towards the light ahead, which was shimmering through a large circle in the roof. After a few strong kicks, the light fell upon her, prompting Misty to let go on the wall and sink to the seabed. As her feet touched the ground she pushed herself upwards; aiming herself into the opening.

The feeling of the cool air against her face relieved Misty, but only for a second. She lowered herself so that only her eyes were above water, and began to wade silently over to the edge of the tiny pool.
‘That’s weird, where are the grunts on lookout?’

It was a small room, with a single battery-powered light shining from the top right corner, and a few plastic containers stacked along the wall beneath it. Misty supposed that this room was hardly used by Team Aqua; there was no space for desks, cupboards or filling units, and there was no way a submarine could fit in the hole Misty has just swum through.
‘Maybe this is where they go if they need to get out in a hurry; one person at a time.’ Misty contemplated.

Acting fast, Misty pulled herself out of the water, took off her black backpack and proceeded to remove her scuba outfit. After she put the scuba outfit and mouthpiece into a plastic bag, and placed it back into the backpack, she flung the bag over her shoulders and crept silently over to the doorway carved into the wall.

Before taking a step into the corridor, Misty spun her head both ways; checking to see if the coast was clear, only to meet the eyes of a Team Aqua Grunt.

‘Hey! How’d you get in here!’ the man hollered in surprise. He had a bald head and was wearing a black and white stripped t-shirt, long black pants and a light blue bandana with a white skull-shaped logo on the front.

‘How else?’ she smirked, pointing at the pool in the other room

‘How dare you speak to a Team Aqua Agent like that! Looks like I have to teach you a lesson.’ he grunted, reaching for a Pokéball on his belt.

‘That won’t be necessary,’ Misty replied, gesturing to her waist, ‘I don’t have any Pokémon with me; I’m afraid you’ve won this one.’

‘Huh?’ he stammered, taking a step back, ‘what do you want?’

‘I’d like to see Archie, right now.’ Misty demanded, closing her eyes and folding her arms below her chest.

At that point, more Team Aqua Grunts had showed up; surrounding the two while fingering the Pokéballs on their belts suspiciously.

‘She doesn’t have any Pokémon!’ the first grunt called out, ‘she doesn’t want to fight.’

‘What does she want?’

‘Who is she?’

‘What’s she doing here?’ a few grunts voiced.

‘She wants to see Archie.’ the first grunt responded, scratching the back of his head.

‘And why does she want to see Archie?’ a woman’s voice beckoned from behind.

All the grunts spun around, while Misty opened her eyes and dropped her hands to her sides.

From the crowd, a tall, woman with long, fuzzy crimson hair and blood red eyes emerged. She wore long black pants and a blue trench coat that fell to her knees. She strutted forward, her hands in the front pockets of her coat and her head held high.

‘Well?’ the woman sneered.

Misty could hear her footsteps approaching, but for some reason she couldn’t move.

‘This isn’t the time to freak out!’ she cursed to herself.

The footsteps ceased.

‘You know it’s rude to have your back to someone when they’re speaking to you.’ the woman commented coolly, causing all the grunts to snicker.

In one quick movement, Misty turned around to face the woman.

‘That’s better, isn’t it?’ the woman laughed, ‘aren’t you a little young to be stumbling around Team Aqua’s hideout?’

The surrounding grunts laughed.

‘I would like to speak to Archie.’ Misty said assertively.

The grunts laughed even louder, and the woman smirked, but for a second, Misty thought she saw a flicker of concern in the woman’s red eyes.

‘And what is your business with Archie? He doesn’t have time to speak with kids’ like-’

‘And who are you to say who I do and don’t get to speak to, Shelly?’ a voice boomed.

All the grunts, and Shelly, flinched. The surrounding grunts took a step back so their backs were facing the wall, and Shelly straightened herself; the way a soldier would when receiving orders from a higher ranking officer.

‘I’m sorry, Archie-sir! I didn’t think you would want to waste your time on-‘

‘Next time, do not assume!’ Archie spat, causing Shelly to cower.

Misty stood still, her eyes locked on Archie. He was a tall, muscular man, with dark brown side burns and facial hair. Like the rest of his grunts, he wore a bandana with the familiar skull logo; but his was a much darker blue. He wore long black pants and a black, long sleeved, v-neck shirt, with the same skull-shaped logo printed at the front.

Surprisingly, Misty didn’t feel scared or worried, in fact, she felt tougher than she had before.

Misty smirked and took a step forward, ‘maybe I can do this after all.’

‘Now,’ Archie said, stepping in front of Shelly, ‘what do you want?’

‘I’m Mist-‘

‘I know who you are,’ Archie interrupted loudly, ‘you are Misty; the Cerulean City Gym Leader. My question was; what do you want?’

The grunts standing round Archie and Misty gasped in shock.

‘Misty? The Gym Leader?

‘What is she doing here?’

‘I hear she’s the best in all of Kanto. Maybe even in all the regions.’ the grunts murmured in amazement.

Even Shelley raised her eyebrows in surprise.

‘Quiet!’ Archie roared defiantly, shooting a dangerous glare to all of the surrounding grunts.

Misty flinched, but quickly regained herself before Archie turned to face her again.

‘I’m here because I-‘ Misty started, but, at that moment, couldn’t help but think of all those she cared about; her sisters, her Pokémon, all the friends she made during her travels, Professor Oak, Delia Ketchum, Brock, Tracey, Pikachu, and Ash. Ash…what would he think of her right now if he could see her talking freely to Team Aqua?

‘He’d probably hate me…’ she thought sadly.

‘Because of what?’ Archie grunted, folding his arms impatiently.
‘Who cares what Ash thinks…it’s time to think about you!’ Misty grunted to herself, clenching her fists, ‘you promised yourself you wouldn’t let him or anyone else stand in your way; now focus!’

‘You’re wasting my-‘

‘I’m here to join Team Aqua!’ Misty cried.

Gasps could be heard all around the room. Shelly took a step back in astonishment. And Archie...he remained speechless, staring deep into Misty’s aquamarine eyes. She stared back, waiting for some form of reply, but instead, he closed his eyes.

There was an eerie silence around the room as the Team Aqua Grunts, Shelly and Misty stared at Archie in anticipation.
‘What’s going on?’ Misty contemplated, frowning in curiosity.

Archie than shifted on the spot, and flicked his eyes open.

‘Come with me.’ he murmured, as he turned around and walked in the opposite direction.

Without hesitation, Misty took a deep breath and followed, ‘here we go.’

***

Misty had followed Archie down a short, narrow corridor. They had passed several rooms, all of which filled with Team Aqua Grunts either standing over long tables talking in low voices, or scribbling things down on notepads or maps. There were other rooms too, but they were empty, except for a few boxes and filing cabinets.

It was no secret that the last room at the end of the corridor was Archie’s. Unlike the others, it had a wooden door with a gold doorknob; the letters ‘TA’ scribed on its shiny surface. Archie came to halt as he put his hand into his pant pocket and pulled out a silver key.

‘This way.’ he urged, opening the door and walking in.

Misty followed, stepping to the side so Archie could close the door behind them.

The room was of a decent size; it had a magnificent mahogany desk centred in the middle of the room with two black leather chairs positioned either side of it. On the floor was a rich-blue knotted pile carpet, which stretched to the walls, and sitting within a dug-in shelf on the back wall was a red and blue glass statue of Kyogre.

‘It’s beautiful.’ Misty though, staring at the statue in awe.

‘That’s Kyogre,’ Archie claimed; noticing Misty’s gaze, ‘it’s the legendary Sea Basin Pokémon, which has the ability to expand the oceans. It also belongs to the Weather Trio, along with Groudon and Rayquaza.’

‘Groudon and Kyogre were awoken by you and Team Magma a few years ago; weren’t they?’

‘Yes,’ Archie grunted as he walked around the desk and sat in the chair, ‘but I should’ve known Team Magma would’ve interfered; what fools they are! And not to mention that imbecile Lance, and that group of children with the Pikachu!’
Misty cringed, ‘oh Ash, why do you always insist on being the hero?’ than slowly walked to the chair opposite of Archie and sat down.

Archie watched her, his eyes calculating and curious, than, he spoke.

‘Now, what is a Gym Leader like you doing here?’

‘Like I said I’m here to join Team A-‘

‘Yes, I know that,’ Archie hissed, ‘but I’m not convinced your motives are pure. Perhaps the Pokémon League sent you here to spy on us, or, is this mighty Cerulean City Gym Leader already working for another criminal organisation: determined to take down Team Aqua once and for all?!’

‘No,’ Misty denied, frowning, ‘Team Rocket are useless; they made fools out of themselves more than they caused harm, besides, it seems as though they have disappeared into thin air. And I’ve never had dealings with the other organisations. As for the Pokémon League…I would love nothing more than to have nothing to do with them, and watch them crumble!’

Archie smiled, ‘and why should I believe that?’

‘Because,’ Misty argued, edging closer to the edge of her chair, ‘you and I have both seen the sides of the Pokémon League that the public haven’t seen. While I know how the Pokémon League treats you and all the other criminal organisations, you have no idea how they’ve treated us Gym Leaders!’

Misty waited for Archie to speak, but he remained silent, eyeing her with interest, so, she continued.

‘Approximately two years ago, I returned to Cerulean City Gym; to take up the position of Gym Leader. While I wasn’t too thrilled about leaving my friends and being stuck in the same place all year around, it eventually grew on me. However, the Gym needed a lot of improvements. My sisters weren’t, and still aren’t, emotionally equipped to run a Gym, so they just simply fought battles the best they could and cleaned up on weekends; which wasn’t good enough. But I wanted to do more than that; I wanted to make the Cerulean Gym the best it could be!’

‘Anyways, I requested an appointment with the League, which they gladly accepted. So far, so good, I thought, until, that is, the actual appointment. Lorelei, Bruno, Agatha and Lance denied me the help I would need to carry out the renovations, and even though they fund the Gym with a certain amount during the year, it’s only enough for basic things like chemicals to clean the pool. And while I understand that the Gym is my responsibility, something that important should merit some form of help from the very people who created them!’

Archie nodded his head in acknowledgment, ‘go on.’

‘So I worked hard over the years, and sure enough I had saved enough to fix things up. And sure enough, when the League advertised these new improvements made to the Gym, they claimed it was all there doing!’

Misty was fuming now; she was heaving heavily and gripping the arms of the chair tensely, causing the leather to shriek horribly, ‘so you see Archie? You and I are exactly alike; we are both leaders who are passionate about what it is we do, whether it’s running a Gym or a group of people. Not to mention our love of water type Pokémon.’

Archie stared at her, shocked and impressed, ‘the girl is a fighter that’s for sure. Maybe she deserves a place in Team Aqua?’ he pondered, bringing his hand to his chin, ‘yes, with her on our side, we can only succeed! But, I can’t give in so easy, I must make her fight for her place; she must earn it.’

‘That’s all very convincing, but, still, I am not persuaded.’ he grinned.

Archie watched as Misty took the black backpack off her back and started rummaging through it.

‘What’s she playing at?’ Archie thought, leaning forward a tiny bit.

‘This little hideout was a tricky place to find,’ Misty started as she pulled out plastic-sealed bag, filled with paper documents, ‘however, the League knows all about your little scheme to rob goods from the Devon Corporation in Rustboro City.’

Opening the bag, Misty reached in, grabbed one of the documents and threw it on the desk in front of Archie.

‘That document describes all the details of your little heist. The League has been onto to you for a few months now, so unless you want to lose some of your good men; I’d scrap the operation’ Misty commented leaning back in her chair.

Archie grabbed the document off the table in a hurry and began to flick through the pages, reading every detail.

‘They know everything,’ he muttered, still reading, ‘they know whose on the job, what day we’re doing it, and what time,’ he looked at Misty in shock, ‘how did you get this?’

‘I have my ways,’ Misty smirked, ‘and don’t worry, the League don’t know about this little place,’ she said as she pointed her finger to the roof of the room, ‘your secret is safe with me.’

Archie gave her a weak smile than stood up abruptly, ‘Shelly! Sullivan! Get in here!’

In the distance Misty could hear the muffled footsteps of two people, rushing to the orders of their boss. The door then flew open. In the doorway, Shelly and the bald man Misty had run into earlier, were standing there; their backs straight and their eyes darting between Misty and Archie.

‘Yes sir?’ they both asked in unison.

‘Sullivan, get to Rustboro City right away, and tell the others the job is off. Go now!’

‘Yes sir!’ Sullivan cried, and then ran out of the room in a hurry.

‘Sir, what is going-‘

‘The League is onto us Shelly. We have no choice but to pull out of this mission; for now.’

‘Misty has informed us of the League’s knowledge of our little mission.’ Archie replied nonchalantly, sitting back down again.

‘And you believe her? I’m sorry sir, but why should we listen to her, when all she could be doing is the League’s dirty work!’

‘Silence! How dare you question me; you’re leader! If it were not for Misty, five of our best men would’ve been carted away to jail!’

Shelly recoiled, ‘I’m sorry sir, but I find it hard to believe that she-Misty would want to help us.’

‘You’re going to have to trust me if we are going to be working together, Shelly.’ Misty spat, folding her arms.

‘She’s apart of Team Aqua now?!’ Shelly beckoned approaching Archie.

‘Yes, I believe she will be, after she signs the forms.’

‘Before I do that,’ Misty begun, ‘I have my own terms that you must agree to.’

‘You’ve got to be kidding.’ Shelly huffed.

‘And what may they be?’ Archie asked calmly.

Once again, Misty reached into the plastic bag and pulled out another document, this one was only one page long.

She slid it to Archie, who quickly picked it up and began to read it.

‘I’m not asking for much, but I will make it clear that I will not be able meet with you and the team a lot. I’m a full-time Gym Leader, so I’m afraid I won’t be able to make meetings, etcetera, etcetera. However if you do need me, and it’s an emergency, contact me via the email on that document, and only that email.’

‘Fair enough,’ Archie said, ‘anything else?’

‘I also request that you do not come near my Gym, my family or my friends. This has nothing to do with them, and, if the League gets the slightest hint that me; a respected Gym Leader, is dealing with Team Aqua, they’ll close the Gym, send me to jail and hunt Team Aqua down until the last member. I’d hate to leave my sisters jobless and homeless, and also see the Gym; I’ve worked tirelessly to improve, come crashing down.’

‘Then why join Team Aqua in the first place!?’ Shelly spat, folding her arms.

‘Because,’ Misty declared, ‘it’s time for me to do what I want.’

Shelly shot Archie a confused look, only to witness him sign the document Misty had given him. Misty also took the terms and agreement document Archie had placed on the desk seconds ago, and neatly signed her name at the bottom before sliding it back to Archie on the desk.

‘Congratulations Misty!’ Archie cried, extending his arm, ‘you are now a treasured member of Team Aqua!’

‘I wouldn’t have it any other way.’ Misty replied, extending her own arm and shaking Archie’s hand.

Hi all!
So so so so sorry for my delayed chapter!
I've been busy, but fear not, I haven't give up on this fic!
Sorry, if this chapter doesn't come up to standard >.<
Enjoy!!!!
Review!

Chapter 14: Back on Track

Present day…

‘You could’ve picked a better place to meet you know; it’s a little out in the open don’t you think?’ Misty grumbled, as she and Shelly paced slowly around the stadium.

‘Afraid Misty?’ Shelly smirked

‘I’m not afraid!’ Misty bellowed as she stomped her foot on the ground, ‘anyways, what’s going on?’

Shelly paused and folded her arms across her chest defiantly, ‘you mean to say you haven’t read through the files we’ve sent to you?’

‘Yes, but it doesn’t explain everything.’

‘Very well,’ Shelly replied, ‘it’s official; Team Rocket are back.’

Misty eyes widened in shock, ‘why wasn’t it mentioned in the files?’

‘Because it’s confidential, we can’t be too sure of how safe our information is when we send it off to you. You should’ve come to more of our meetings.’

‘I did the best I could,’ Misty hissed, ‘and I gave you a lot of inside information; where’s the gratitude for that?’

Shelly shrugged nonchalantly.

‘Whatever. Anyways, through the use of your information, and Team Aqua’s sophisticated integrity,’ Shelly added smugly, ‘we were able to determine that it was Team Rocket who were stealing from various companies throughout the region, as well as secretly transporting suspicious cargo to one of the uninhabited islands in the Orange Archipelago.’

‘Why the Orange Archipelago?’

‘It’s quiet for starters; Team Rocket have been here for years, and we, Team Aqua, have been here nearly one year, and the community, let alone the authorities, haven’t had the slightest clue of our presence.’

‘Clever. So what are they up to?’ Misty beckoned.

‘We’re still working on that,’ Shelly began, as she started to walk again, ‘we do know however that it has something to do with the irregular migratory patterns-’

‘-of flying and water type Pokémon from all around the regions.’ Misty finished.

‘Yes, they know something is wrong here in the Orange Archipelago, and so do all the Pokémon in the area. I suppose they want to help, but there’s nothing they can do.’ Shelly sighed, closing her eyes.

Misty looked at her worriedly, ‘is everything okay Shelly?’

‘Uh-um- I’m fine.’ Shelly stammered as she fixed up her vest and straightened her back.

‘It gets better,’ Misty huffed, ‘remember, a few years back, when Groudon and Kyogre were awoken by -’

‘Of course.’ Shelly interrupted.

‘And do you remember that boy and his group of friends that pretty much saved the day?’

Misty glanced at Shelly, who tilted her head in confusion, ‘what about him?’

‘Chances are that he’s coming here to compete in the All-Stars Orange League Championship. And knowing him, once he figures out that there’s something fishy going on, he’ll want to save the day; he usually does too.’ Misty whispered solemnly.

‘He’s not my boyfriend.’ Misty snapped as she yanked her arm away from Shelly. Shelly noticed a worried and embarrassed look in Misty’s eyes before she glanced towards her arm, which was now slightly red.

‘We’ll see about that, won’t we now Misty.’ Shelly thought slyly.

‘Well, we’ll have to find a way to deal with Ash and your other two friends.’ Shelly commented.

‘Whatever, but you do realise they’re going to find out your secret; that you’ve been an active member in Team Aqua for nearly four years now.’ Shelly claimed smugly.

‘Yes, I realise that, but it’s going to be on my own terms.’ Misty asserted, as she turned to the side and stared out into the ocean. In the distance she could see faint lights coming from the boats on docks, and in the sky, the light coming from the moon trickled through the dark grey cloud, which loomed over the harbour.

‘Then it’s settled,’ Shelly exclaimed, ‘I’ll go back to our hideout and tell Archie everything you just told me. We’ll be in contact over the next few days.’

‘Okay, when-‘Misty began, only to find that Shelly was gone.

‘Where’d she go?’ Misty asked herself, turning from side to side hoping to see where Shelly had run off to, but there was no sign of her.

‘Guess I better get back to the Pokémon Centre, Gary and Tracey will freak if they notice I’m not there.’

Once again, Misty headed back to the Pokémon Centre, but she decided to walk along the dirt pathway along the tiny forest. It was a lovely night; in the distance she could hear people socialising, the faint harmony of guitars and bongo drums coming from towards the docks, and the soft, subtle whisper of the warm breeze.
However, as hard as Misty tried to focus, she couldn’t hear any chirps, squeaks or grunts from any Pokémon in the trees, bushes or shrubs next to her.

‘What’s Team Rocket up to?’

Misty stopped and peered into the forest, hoping somehow the answer would come to her.
‘Don’t be stupid.’ Misty cursed to herself, as she continued to walk to the Pokémon Centre.

Six minutes later Misty had arrived at the Pokémon Centre, and to her surprise the automatic doors once again opened for her. Creeping quietly, Misty walked past reception, into the corridor, and back to her room, happy to find that Gary and Tracey were sound asleep.

Slipping off her shoes quickly, Misty hopped into bed and fell asleep almost immediately.

However, she hadn’t gone unnoticed.

From the top of the opposite bunk bed, Gary was lying on his side; his eyes slightly open. He had witnessed Misty leave and return from her suspicious little outing.

Gary narrowed his eyes as he rolled onto his back.

‘I wonder what she’s up to.’

***

As Gary laid there pondering Misty’s mysterious rendezvous, Ash, Brock and Pikachu were now in their room at the Pokémon Centre, a few doors down from Misty, Gary and Tracey.

Brock sat crossed legged on the floor, reading the All-Stars Orange League Championship trainer’s guide, humming and hawing to himself, Pikachu was already asleep on the top bunk bed, and Ash was sprawled out on the bed below Pikachu; his eyes burning into the bottom of the mattress above him.

‘Worried about tomorrow Ash?’ Brock asked as he closed the book, and popped it onto a nearby oval-shaped table that was tucked away in the corner.

‘Yeah, I suppose, it seems different to all the other tournaments I’ve competed in.’

‘You should be fine; you have me here to help you! And I’m sure the lovely Nurse Joy can help you too!’ Brock gushed as he sat down on the opposite bunk bed.

Brock couldn’t help but notice that Ash’s face still exhibited a concerned look. ‘What’s bothering him? It surely can’t be-ohhhh.’

‘It’s not just that is it? You’re worried about Misty.’ Brock blurted out matter-of-factly.

‘What! I’m not worried about Misty!’ Ash spluttered as he jolted upright, nearly banging his head.

‘Sure didn’t seem that way when we were in Cerulean City! And you’ve been quiet all day!’

‘I’m nervous about the Championship!’ Ash retaliated, clenching his fist.

‘Oh okay then, so you don’t care at all that Misty is travelling around with Gary and-‘

‘I just didn’t know they were friends! I mean WHY WOULD SHE WANT TO TRAVEL WITH HIM FOR?!’

‘Sounds like someone is jealous to me!’ Brock laughed.

‘I’m not jealous!’ Ash cried as he swivelled around so he was now sitting on the edge of his bed.

‘Whatever Ash,’ Brock chuckled as he kicked off his shoes and got under the covers, ‘could you get the light, I’m tired, and tomorrow is going to be a big day.’

Ash grumbled as he gotta up and stormed over to the light switch.

‘Gary and I are friends, but we’ll always have that rivalry between us. I don’t mean that we’re competing for Misty or anything like that!’ Ash replied awkwardly as he flicked the light switch, ‘but it seems like he’s always one step ahead.’

Brock watched Ash as he walked back to his bunk bed and slipped under the covers, and put his hands behind his head, ‘It’s just-I-I haven’t seen her in so long, and I thought she’d be there you know? Not off with Gary.’

Brock nodded his head in understanding.

‘I miss her...’ Ash uttered to himself, as he closed his eyes.

Brock stared at Ash in amazement for a little longer, then turned to his side; facing the wall.

‘Well when you see her Ash, please tell her; she’s missed you, more than you know.’ Brock thought to himself, as he drifted off to sleep.

***

‘Rise and shine! It’s time to go!’ a cheery voice beamed.

‘Huh-what-what time is it?’ Misty yawned.

‘Quarter to five in the morning,’ Tracey laughed nervously ‘Gary wants to get to Professor Ivy right away. He’s gone to get breakfast, and he said he’d met us downstairs.’

‘Normally getting up so early wouldn’t bother me so much,’ Misty moaned as she slid out of bed, ‘I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.’

‘That’s too bad,’ Tracey replied as he walked towards the door, ‘I’ll let you pack and get ready. Gary and I have already packed; we’re going to head off as soon as we finish breakfast. I’ll get your Pokémon for you too.’

‘Thanks Tracey, I won’t be long.’

As soon as Tracey closed the door, Misty got up and pulled up her bed sheets. She then walked over to her backpack; which was sitting on the oval-shaped table in corner, and got out her yellow, sleeveless vest and put it on. Misty than pulled a brush out of her bag and quickly combed her hair, had a quick glance around the room to make sure she didn’t leave anything behind, than left.

Further down the corridor was a bathroom; where she splashed her face with warm water, made sure she looked half decent, and then went out into the lounge room at the front of the Pokémon Centre; where Gary, Tracey and Azurill were now sitting, quietly eating their breakfast.

‘Good morning.’ Misty said as she sat down next to Azurill who was busily eating Pokéblocks.

‘Azu!’ Azurill mumbled as it continued to eat.

‘Morning,’ Gary replied as he slid a plate of toast and jams towards Misty, ‘hope this is alright, I figured I owed you after your amazing hospitality at the Cerulean Gym the other week.’

‘It looks great.’ Misty exclaimed as she hurriedly picked it up and began to eat.

‘Here’s your Pokémon Misty,’ Tracey smiled as he placed a tray full of Pokéballs on the table, ‘any chance you’ve changed your mind on using Gyarados today?’

‘No way!’ Misty smirked as she spread some strawberry jam on her toast.

‘I thought you might say that.’ Tracey sighed as he hung his head.

‘It’ll be fine Trace!’ Gary chuckled as he pat his shoulder, ‘unless you’d rather swim!’

‘Erh.’

Misty laughed as she finished off her last piece of toast.

‘Professor Ivy called me this morning; she said she’s ready to see us as soon as we get there.’ Gary proclaimed as he collected everyone’s plates and headed towards the kitchen.

‘Wow, she’s up earlier than us.’ Misty sighed as she put her Pokéball in her bag, except Gyarados’, than put the bag over her shoulders, picked up Azurill, and stood up.

‘Yeah.’ Tracey agreed as he put his backpack on as well and grabbed Gary’s.

‘Thanks Nurse Joy.’ Tracey and Misty called out as he and Misty started to walk out of the Pokémon Centre.

From within the Pokéball, a gigantic, blue, yellow-bellied serpentine Pokémon emerged; towering proudly over Misty, Gary and Tracey. Gyarados’ three pointed, dark blue crest; atop its head, shone brilliantly in the morning sun, its sharp teeth and red eyes shimmered fiercely as it stared at the trio.

Gary raised his forearm to shield his eyes from the sun, as Tracey consciously took a step back; hiding behind Misty.

‘Hey there Gyarados! You ready to go to Valencia Island?’

Gyarados roared appreciatively as it lowered itself into the water; gesturing Misty, Tracey and Gary to hop on. Misty leapt perfectly onto Gyarados’ back and made her way to Gyarados’ head. Gary followed suit, but walked steadily in the direction Misty went. Tracey hesitated, before carefully lowering himself down the sidewalk until he felt Gyarados’ body underneath his feet. He let go, and had the slightest fear he was about to go crashing into the water, but luckily for him, he found that he was standing in the middle of Gyarados’ long body.

Tracey let out a sigh of relief, ‘phew, that was scary.’

‘Are you coming up here Tracey?’ Gary called from the top of Gyarados’ head.

‘I might just stay down here,’ Tracey replied, sweat-dropping, ‘I’ll make some sketches on the way!’

‘Have it your way.’ Gary chuckled, copying Misty by taking a firm grip on one of the points on Gyarados’ crest.

Misty turned her head around to face Tracey, ‘you might wanna come up a little more. Once we get go-‘

Upon hearing the word ‘go’ Gyarados lunged forward; roaring happily.

Gary and Misty jerked forward, but they remained upright, Tracey however went crashing face first into Gyarados’ scaly back.

‘Are you okay?’ Misty called out frantically.

‘Yeah, I’m alright,’ Tracey mumbled, still facedown, ‘any room up there for me?’

Only a few minutes ago, Brock was warm and snug under his sheets, dreaming of pretty girls telling him how handsome he was, and how much they wanted to be his girlfriend.

‘Now, now girls,’ the Brock in the dream had declared, ‘there’s enough Brock to go around!’

Brock sighed as he looked up to the clock in the Pokémon Centre; it was only 7 in the morning.

‘There better be a good reason why I was pulled away from my lovely dream Ash!’ Brock cried, collapsing onto the crimson coloured lounge, across from the reception.

‘Today is the day the All Stars Orange League Championship begins!’ Ash announced, clenching his hands together determinedly, ‘I need to go to Pummelo Stadium and find out who my first victim is!’

‘Ash,’ Brock said, ‘battles don’t begin till after 11, we don’t need to be there until 10. I thought you said you read the trainer’s guide.’

‘I have!’ Ash countered, ‘I just thought it’d be a good idea to suss everything out!’

Brock narrowed his eyes, ‘suss what out exactly?’

‘Um, the um, the other trainers! Also, we need to get accommodation; they have special rooms for the competitors,’ Ash smirked, ‘and I thought you read the trainer’s guide, Brocko.’

‘You won’t know who the competitors are until you meet them at the opening ceremony’ Brock chuckled as he watched Ash dart his head from side to side, searching for said competitors, ‘and, the guide says the competitors will receive their room key after the opening ceremony.’

Ash sweat-dropped, taking a seat next to Brock, ‘oh, guess I didn’t see that bit in the guide.’

‘Was there something else you wanted to suss out before the opening ceremony? Or should I say someone else?’

‘Uh no!’ Ash spluttered, jolting forward, waking up a surprised Pikachu; who was still napping on top of his head.

Pikachu stopped almost instantly as it heard its master’s voice, and hopped down besides Ash; who had now sunk down into the lounge, blackened by the intensity of Pikachu’s Thundershock.

‘What is going on out here?’ Nurse Joy hissed angrily as she came into view, ‘others are trying to sleep! Please keep it down! ‘

Brock; who had moved to another seat quickly to avoid Pikachu’s Thundershock, bounced up gaily and hurried over to the unhappy Nurse Joy, clasping her hands in his, ‘Nurse Joy! I’m so sorry for my rude friend. Allow me to take you out for a coffee, or even lunch, so I can properly apologise for-‘

‘Pika.’ Pikachu interrupted, sparking its red cheeks in annoyance.

Brock instantly let go of Nurse Joy, and jumped back in his chair, disgruntled and sulking over another failed attempt to woo a Nurse Joy.

‘Just please keep it down,’ Nurse Joy weakly smiled, ‘the kitchen is down the hall if you want to fix up breakfast for yourselves. Your Pokémon will be ready by then.’

‘Thanks Nurse Joy.’ Ash and Brock replied in unison.

‘Pikapi!’

‘I’ll go get us breakfast.’ Brock replied standing up.

‘Thanks Brock.’ Ash smiled, now recovered from Pikachu’s attack.

‘Chu.’ Pikachu moaned as it stared at Ash worriedly.

‘Don’t be sorry, buddy. I woke you up when you were trying to sleep. I deserved it.’ he reassured as he patted Pikachu’s head fondly.

‘Pika.’

‘You excited Pikachu?’

‘Pikapi!’

‘We’re going to win this!’

‘Pika! Pikachu!’

Ash smiled at his long time friend, as they sat in silence; waiting for Brock to return with their breakfast.
‘What did Brock mean by someone? Surely not Misty…’ Ash thought, but then mentally kicked himself, ‘oh but he did.’

He looked down the corridor, listening to Brock cluttering about in kitchen; no doubt cooking up something extravagant, and the soft sounds of Nurse Joy humming to herself as she typed away at the computer.

‘I wonder where she could be. She only got here a few hours before us, she’s gotta still be on the island.’

Ash continued to stare down the corridor, ‘c’mon Brock, the quicker you cook breakfast, the quicker we’ll find Misty.’

Ash felt himself flush at his own thoughts, ‘get a grip Ash. She’s just a friend, no, a best friend, that you haven’t seen in a long time. You miss her, that’s all.’

At that moment, Brock rounded the corner, three plates in hand.

‘Here you go Ash; a nutritious meal to start the day. We have some scrambled eggs, buttered toast, and jam, some sausages and orange juice!’ Brock boasted as he placed the plate and cutlery on the table in front of Ash, ‘and for Pikachu, my new Pika Pokéblocks with ketchup on the side!’

‘Wow, thanks Brock.’

‘Pika, Pikachu!’

The three ate quietly but quickly. Ash finished his meal off in just a matter of minutes and Pikachu wasn’t far behind. Brock ate slower than Ash and Pikachu, watching them flabbergasted.
‘I forgot how much Ash lacked table manners.’

‘So Ash, what are we going to do, since we have a few hours to kill?’ Brock asked slyly, setting his plate down on the table.

Ash reddened slightly, but quickly composed himself, ‘well I was thinking we could find Misty, Gary and Tracey,’ he said confidently, picking up everyone’s plates and cutlery, ‘hopefully they’re still on Pummelo Island.’

Ash turned around and breathed out as he headed towards the kitchen, happy Brock hadn’t said anything embarrassing.

When Ash came back out into the Brock was leaning over the reception desk; chatting away with Nurse Joy fervently.

‘Thanks for all your help Nurse Joy,’ Ash smiled as he stopped next to Brock, ‘did you get my Pokémon Brock?’

Without glancing at Ash, Brock slid a tray full of Pokéball in his direction, still gazing at Nurse Joy.

‘Has it been a busy morning?’ he asked politely, resting his head on his hand.

‘It’s been okay, I had to open and stock the kitchen early this morning. We had three trainers this morning keen to get going early. They’re on a research project!’ Nurse Joy beamed.

‘Three trainers…research project…?’ Ash thought to himself.

‘Those three trainers didn’t happen to be Misty, Gary and Tracey?’ Brock asked as he took his head of his hand and stood normally again.

‘Why yes! Do you know them?’ Nurse joy asked cheerfully.

Ash’s jaw dropped.

‘Yes,’ Brock replied happily, ‘they’re very good friends of ours. Could you tell us where they went?’

‘Are they still on Pummelo Island?!’ Ash asked loudly, inching closer to the desk.

‘I’m afraid not,’ Nurse Joy sighed, ‘they left nearly two hours ago. I think they said they were going to Valencia Island, to visit Professor Ivy.’

Ash instantly glanced at Brock, who had already sulked into the foetal position underneath the desk.

‘That name.’ he uttered.

‘Get a grip Brock,’ Ash uttered, before looking back to Nurse Joy, ‘is there any way we could catch up to them?’

‘From what I heard they were going to ride Misty’s Gyarados to Valencia Island. Good idea too, nearly all the boats, ferries and ships in the harbour are bringing in spectators, competitors and tourists. I think they’re all booked out for the next three days.’

‘Maybe Lapras could-‘

‘Besides Ash, you need to get to the Stadium anyway, we won’t have the time.’ Brock moaned from the ground.

‘I’m not sure Ash. All I know is that they went to Valencia Island to talk to Professor Ivy. They might get all the information they need from Professor Ivy to carry out their research on other islands.’

‘What are they researching anyway?’ Ash asked sincerely.

Brock stood up at this point, interested in what Nurse Joy had to say.

‘They didn’t give away too much; just that they were going to study some of the behavioural patterns of the Pokémon in the Orange Archipelago.’

Ash and Brock exchanged glances before looking back to Nurse Joy.

‘Thanks Joy,’ Brock smiled, ‘if they do come back here, you will tell them we asked about them, right?’

‘Could you tell them we’re staying in the competitor’s rooms near the Stadium?’ Ash added.

‘Of course.’

‘Thanks.’ Ash smiled appreciatively as he started to clip his Pokéballs to his belt.

‘Thank you so much for all your amazing assistance Nurse Joy!’ Brock gushed as he brought her hands up to his chest, ‘parting you will be the hardest thing I’ll ever have to-owwwwww-what are you doing?’

‘Good bye Nurse Joy.’ Ash grunted as he yanked Brock’s ear and dragged him out of the Pokémon Centre.

‘Bye Ash, good luck in the Championship.’

‘Pikapi!’ Pikachu called from the top of Ash’s head.

***
It was nearly 8am, and Misty, Tracey and Gary were now fifteen minutes away from Valencia Island. The trip had been slow and steady. The waves were choppy as well as chilly; doubling their travelling time. But this didn’t put off the eager trio.

The three had put on waterproof jackets a few minutes into their journey; Gary wore black, Misty sported red and Tracey was nestled in his dark green jacket. During the course of the journey, Tracey edged his way back down Gyarados, and sat comfortably on the hump in the middle of its back as he sketched away. Gary sat further up, on a crook on Gyarados’ upper neck, reading and shuffling through notes, and Misty sat square in the middle of Gyarados head; staring out into the ocean.

Misty could not of been happier; it had been far too long since she had ridden a Pokémon over the ocean. It was a little cold; but Misty didn’t mind.

‘It might turn out to be a nice day,’ she thought happily to herself, ‘I wonder where Ash is right now…’

She shifted on the spot, and gently patted Gyarados on its crest, ‘you’re doing a great job Gyarados; we shouldn’t be far off now.’

Gyarados murmured quietly in response, and propelled itself a little quicker in the water.

Misty peered up again, and frowned, ‘I wonder where Team Aqua are hiding? And what’s Team Rocket up to?’

Gary looked up as he heard Misty’s voice, only to be reminded of her late night outing from yesterday. Not wanting to disturb Tracey, Gary popped his books back in his bag and climbed up silently to Gyarados’ head, eager to find out what Misty was up to last night.

‘Shouldn’t be long now, huh Red.’

‘Oh, you startled me.’ Misty croaked as she jerked her hand up to her chest.

‘Sorry,’ Gary replied as he took a sit next to Misty; stretching his legs out, ‘say Red, where’d you get to last night?’

Misty jumped, ‘pardon?’

‘Last night I heard you get up and leave the room. You were gone for a while, was everything alright?’

‘Oh. Yeah um-um-I-I couldn’t sleep, so I decided to check my emails. My sisters were supposed to send me an email about how the Gym was going. They forgot all about.’ Misty replied as she shook her head.

‘I thought she checked her emails before she went to bed last night.’ Gary thought suspiciously.

‘You must have been checking them for a while.’ Gary commented, eyeing her.

‘Yeah well, I decided to go for a walk, I mean it’s been so long since I’ve been here.’ she answered standing up.

‘That doesn’t make sense either. We walked around Pummelo Island all day. Why would she want to go for a look around town when everything was closed, and while it was dark out?’

‘But I don’t understand why-‘

‘Look there’s Valencia Island!’ Tracey called out happily, from below, ‘we made it guys!’